A TOT, who's painful eczema was so bad strangers would point in the street, has been cured after mum slashed these foods from his diet.
Rachael West's son, Elliot West, was just four months old he started to develop tiny red bumps on his face that soon spread across his body.
Now three, Elliot is now relieved of many of the debilitating symptoms of his eczema – which his mum believed hindered his development.
When his symptoms first appeared, little Elliot was prescribed several steroid creams – none of which worked.
By six months Elliot's skin began to ooze, peel off and bleed, causing him to scream in agony throughout the night.
"Whenever it was at its worst, he would have no skin at all and it would be open, weeping and bleeding," the 30 year-old mum-of-two explained.
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"There would be blood everywhere – all over the clothes and bed.
"It smelt like iron and a mix of blood and the stuff oozing out of it, it was like a fleshy smell," she added.
To makes matters worse, people would often stare at little Elliot in the street, some would even point and make horrible comments.
Rachael, of Kentucky, USsaid: "One time we were in the store around Halloween time when he was a baby and someone looked at his face and said 'oh, he's ready for Halloween isn't he?'
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"That really upset me," she explained.
She added: "Mostly we'd have people coming up asking questions like 'what's wrong with him? What is that?' or little kids would stare and point at him and be like 'mommy, look'.
"I think a lot of people thought that what he had was contagious and I did get people ask me if he was," she said.
Gut health
"By the time he was about six months old, I started to realise that the steroid creams weren't working and decided to research gut health."
The devoted mum said that her tot's eczema held him back from a lot of things as he struggled to gain weight and didn't start crawling until he was almost one.
Rachael said: "I think it really impacted his physical health and mobility and also sleep, during that time we didn't get any sleep really.
What are the symptoms of eczema and dermatitis?
IT is painful, distracting and can irritate to the point of despair
In mild cases, a sufferer's skin is dry, scaly, red and itchy.
But, in more severe cases there can be weeping, crusting and bleeding sores as a result.
The constant compulsion to itch can leave the skin split and bleeding and also leaves it open to infection.
"I saw something online that food allergies can be linked to eczema, so I was like 'oh right ok, I'll try that' because the doctors weren't telling me that or offering it as an option.
She put him on a very strict dietof just meat, fruit and vegetables before slowly reintroducing other foods so she could see what he was allergic to.
The first allergies she were detected and cut out of his diet were dairy, eggs and peanuts, which saw his eczema improve within a few weeks.
As his eczema still persisted, they had further tests and it was discovered that Elliot was also allergic to wheat, soy and dogs.
Elliot on the mend
By 18 months old, Elliot's skin had cleared up and he's now "thriving".
"I believe that the food allergies had a lot to do with getting him clear," his mum said.
"He gets the occasional flare up on his body, the skin on his face has been clear ever since," she added.
According to Rachel, her son has now started talking and running around more.,
"I think [the eczema] delayed a lot, even his speech," she explained.
"He gained a lot of weight once he was actually thriving.
She said: "Not all eczema is the same, everyone's is different so I think different things would work for different people.
"Keep researching and asking people. I think there's always a way to help it and to help it get better."
What is eczema?
Also known as dermatitis, eczema is a common dry skin condition.
Though common it is rare for two sufferers to experience the same symptoms and discomfort.
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It is a highly varied condition and comes in many forms.
Despite the fact it causes often unbearable itching, the condition is not contagious, and so cannot be caught from someone suffering a flare-up.
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