Joanna Dobos, a mother of four children with severe eczema, says her youngest son was getting dressed one morning and commented that he liked the shorts he was wearing because they were longer and covered his knees. He asked his mother if she would buy more of them, because, he said, his knees were the worst part of him, and he was trying to cover up all the parts that people don’t really like.
“As a mother, hearing my son use the words ‘worst parts of me’ and ‘parts of me people don't like,’ I was devastated,” Dobos says. “Growing up is difficult as it is. Eczema has added some additional discomfort to that. But knowing that my child is carrying shame over things he can't control is especially difficult.”
Her boys are bothered by the many questions kids ask about their skin, Dobos says.       
“…they get tired of explaining why they look so different. Jonah [one of her sons] has recently shared that students tell him he looks like an ‘old man’ because his skin is ‘weird,’” she says.
Bullying a common problem for kids with eczema.
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