Abstain from bathing for 6 days when infected with Covid-19, young skin is scaly, red

The patient’s mother contacted Dr. Ha Dinh Bong, Research Institute health children, National Children’s Hospital, member of the group of doctors guiding the treatment of baby F0 at home for advice.

Bong said, through clinical examination, the doctor found that the child had dry skin, severe inflammation of pores and hair roots, seborrheic scabs. When asked about the family, it was known that the mother had not bathed the child for 6 days due to fear of affecting the baby’s health.

“This is the main cause of dermatitis in children,” said Dr. Bong. According to the doctor, if not treated early, the child’s skin will crack, scab, pustules, can cause skin infections, staphylococcal infections, streptococcus, … very dangerous for the baby.

The doctor advised the patient’s mother to use a gentle shower gel to bathe her baby, in combination with using a moisturizer to apply to her baby 3 times a day. After 5 days, the child’s skin inflammation improved.

A 4-month-old male Covid-19 patient with skin inflammation because his parents abstain from bathing for many days – Photo: BSCC

In fact, in the process of counseling children with Covid-19 to treat at home, Dr. Bong has encountered many cases of severe dermatitis due to parents abstaining from bathing their children.

At a young age, especially from birth to 6, 7 months old, the baby’s young skin will be weak. If not washed and cleaned, children are prone to dry skin, causing skin inflammation. Besides, when infected with Covid-19, the baby often has a fever, sweat secretes more, causing the skin to lose water quickly, causing dryness and inflammation.

“In some cases where the child has just recovered from Covid-19, the family asked if the child had dermatitis after Covid-19 or not. But this situation has nothing to do with post-Covid-19 but just because parents did not bathe their children in the previous days,” the doctor shared.

Bong emphasized that if skin inflammation is detected early, bathed and cleaned regularly, it will heal quickly without too much impact on children’s health. However, if left for a long time, the baby may experience a dangerous infection as mentioned.

Most parents abstain from bathing their children due to concerns that bathing may affect their health.

According to doctor Ha Dinh Bong, the fact that sick people have to abstain from bathing comes from the previous point of view, when grandparents thought that bathing would cause pores to expand, lose gas, foreign evils could enter the body, causing sicker.

“This opinion is only true when in the past, grandparents did not have clean and closed toilets, and did not have enough warm water for bathing. Bathing in drafty conditions, such cold water makes the body susceptible to cold. From there, the resistance declines, viruses and bacteria easily enter the body,” said Dr. Bong.

However, nowadays most families have self-contained bathrooms and warm water. Abstaining from bathing for fear of illness is a mistake, which can lead to many consequences, including dermatitis.

“Bathing has many benefits: removing dead skin cells, removing dust and dirt from the skin, removing bacteria from the skin, reducing the risk of skin infections, improving sweat gland secretion sweat, improve blood circulation and improve mental health and sleep,” said Dr. Bong.

A 3-month-old patient with Covid-19 with a history of atopic dermatitis, had a relapse of the dermatitis because the family abstained from bathing – Photo: BSCC

Doctor recommended, with children with Covid-19Parents should not abstain from bathing their children, but let them bathe in an airtight room, bathe with clean warm water, ensure the water temperature is between 27 degrees and 32 degrees Celsius. Take a quick bath within 5-10 minutes. After bathing, dry the baby’s body and hair and put on warm clothes before going out.

When the child begins to have mild skin inflammation (only a few blisters, no scabs, no infection, no pustules on the skin), parents only need to give their child a bath with mild, suitable bath products. baby skin. Do not bathe with soap as this can cause irritation. Besides, use extra moisturizer for children from 2 to 3 times / day.

Normally, if the dermatitis is mild, the baby’s condition can be recovered immediately after 2-3 days, longer it will be about 5 days.

For children with more severe inflammation, scaly skin all over the body or with pus-filled spots, infected water wrapping floating on the skin, it is necessary to take the child to the hospital to examine and determine the extent of the infection. From there, the doctor will recommend the appropriate treatment and drugs.

Bong further noted, some mothers often put leaves in the bath water when they see that their children have skin inflammation. This is not advisable because bathing with leaves will make the skin lose moisture faster, causing more inflammation. Besides, we can’t control the safety of these leaves, can’t be sure that the leaves are toxic, bacterial infections should not be dangerous for children.

Many parents also buy “herbal” creams to apply to their children’s skin, which are creams that do not specify ingredients but only have information extracted from herbal plants. “Most of these creams have corticosteroids inside. This active ingredient helps to reduce the inflammation of the skin, but when the drug is stopped, the child may have more severe inflammation, “said Dr. Bong. Therefore, the best use of topical medications for children should be consulted by a medical professional.

Nguyen Lien