Dr Tim Clayton 2016-05-24 Person 5 5 0

Our son started suffering with eczema around his eyes and on his flexures in the winter after he turned 10 years old. It got progressively worse over 6 months. We tried everything to improve his condition: our GPs, a dermatology hospital referral, expensive private doctors, health food shops, dairy elimination, dust elimination, anti histamines. Nothing worked. Not only was the eczema very sore and caused him to feel extremely self conscious, but he became very exhausted and couldn't lead a normal life when he was having bad flare ups. Last week, on a day that felt like rock bottom (our son was off school, in misery with the eczema), I spent the whole day searching the internet for somebody who could help us. Luckily for us, Dr Clayton had an appointment available the next day due to a cancellation. As soon as we walked into the room it was clear that we were finally meeting somebody who knew exactly what he was talking about. He gives you complete confidence that you are in the best hands possible. He's so knowledgeable, empathetic, upbeat and full of great advice. We found it very hard to believe when he said he would clear the flare up within 3 days, but we came out of the appointment feeling the most hopeful we had done for months. Our son said, "That doctor was brilliant!" That evening there was already a huge improvement and our son slept through the night comfortably for the first time in weeks. The next morning the improvement was incredible. Not just his skin, but his whole demeanour and the way he was anticipating the day ahead. He bounded into the house from school that afternoon like a different child, full of an energy and enthusiasm we hadn't seen for so long. We felt we had our son back. His teacher told me he had stood up in front of his class that afternoon in "show and tell" to tell them about his visit to "the best doctor in the world". Two days earlier he hadn't wanted any of his classmates to look at him, he was so self conscious. Our rock bottom day was exactly a week ago today. He's not had any time off school since our appointment with Dr Clayton. His skin is smooth and soft. You can barely see any sign at all that he's ever had any eczema (just very very faintly pink). He is overjoyed to be taking part in all his sports again. He had a great time with his mates at a sleepover this weekend. He's a happy member of our family again. He's got his quality of life back. (He's also merrily drinking cows' milk again. He's totally delighted about that!) We are realistic and know that controlling his condition will take a lot of care, but the vicious circle of stress causing eczema and eczema causing stress has been broken. We hope this has given us a better chance at preventing the terrible flare ups. It's so reassuring that we know who to go to in the event of future flare ups too. We can't thank Dr Clayton enough. I would wholeheartedly recommend him to anybody. Thank you, thank you, thank you!