Eumovate Eczema and Dermatitis Cream is available without a doctor's prescription to treat eczema and dermatitis. It can help you to control patches of red, itchy, dry and inflamed skin caused by eczema and dermatitis without seeing a doctor.

Eumovate Eczema & Dermatitis Cream is one of a family of medicines called topical corticosteroids. Topical means it goes on the skin.

• Corticosteroids are used to control inflammation

The cream works to stop the skins over-reaction to the triggers that cause skin flare-ups. It damps down the inflammation that causes eczema or dermatitis.

• The cream base also has moisturising properties

Topical corticosteroids are not the same as anabolic steroids — used illegally by some athletes and body builders — which are taken as tablets or injections. The two types of medicine are completely different. What we know about this cream comes from years of experience with it as a prescription treatment.

Eumovate Eczema and Dermatitis Cream how to use:

Adults or children aged 12+ Use the cream twice a day, for up to 7 days

• Wash your hands and dry them
• Squeeze out the correct amount of cream onto your index finger
• Gently rub cream into the skin you are treating
• Wash your hands again (unless it is your hands you are treating).

How much to use: From the crease in the finger, squeeze Eumovate Eczema & Dermatitis Cream halfway to your fingertip. This will cover a patch of skin the same size as the palm of your hand.

• Use the fingertip unit as a guide
• For smaller areas, use a smaller amount
• This cream isn't meant to treat large areas

• If you forget or miss a dose, use it when you remember

If you use a bit too much of the cream by mistake, don't worry — but try to keep to the fingertip unit.

• Using steroids on the skin continuously over many weeks or months can cause skin thinning

Don't cover the skin you've treated with anything (plasters, dressings, gloves or cling film). It can cause more of the medicine to pass through the skin.

Eumovate Eczema & Dermatitis Cream is meant to control skin conditions that improve within a week of treating yourself. If you think you need further treatment after that, see a doctor for advice.

• Don't carry on using it

Follow the advice and instructions in your own leaflet to make sure the cream works properly.

Eumovate Eczema and Dermatitis Cream active ingredient is: Clobetasone butyrate 0.05%.

Other ingredients are: Glycerol, glycerol monostearate, cetostearyl alcohol, beeswax substitute 6621, arlacel 165, dimethicone 20, chlorocresol, sodium citrate, citric acid monohydrate and purified water.

Before you use Eumovate Eczema and Dermatitis Cream, check these points: Use Eumovate Eczema & Dermatitis Cream on patches of red, itchy, dry and inflamed skin caused by eczema or dermatitis, for up to 7 days. If you're not sure what's causing your skin problem, ask a pharmacist or doctor.

• If you've ever had a reaction to this cream or its ingredients
• On children under 12, unless a doctor told you to
• If you are pregnant, may be pregnant, or breast feeding

• Talk to a doctor or pharmacist.

Don't use the cream on the wrong skin problems it could make them worse

• Broken or infected skin: like cold sores, herpes, chicken pox, impetigo, ringworm, athlete's foot or thrush
• Psoriasis: this needs to be managed by your doctor
• Acne (spots or pimples)
• Seborrhoeic dermatitis: This involves areas of skin where this cream should not be used

• If you have any of these, ask a pharmacist or doctor for advice.

Don't use other steroids (like hydrocortisone) on the skin while you're using this cream. You would be doubling the dose.

If your rash gets better but comes back: Don't treat the same patch more than twice without taking advice from your doctor. It is possible that you are treating the wrong skin condition or that your are still in contact with your allergic triggers.

Don't use it on certain areas of the body:

• Your face (but it is OK on the neck and ears)
• Groins and private parts
• Between your toes

• Be especially careful that you don't get cream in your eyes

• On other parts of the body
• On patches of red, itchy skin caused by eczema and dermatitis

Eumovate Eczema & Dermatitis Cream is meant to control skin conditions that improve within a week of treating yourself. If you think you need further treatment after that, see a doctor for advice.

• Don't carry on using it

If your skin condition clears up in less than a week, stop using the cream. Think about emollient (moisturising) products to help stop it coming back.

If your skin gets worse, or if it does not improve within a week, stop using the cream and see your doctor.

If your skin gets better but the redness or itching soon comes back, your skin may still be reacting to something that's touching it. If you can't work out what's wrong, ask your doctor for advice.

Possible side-effects: Eumovate cream is very unlikely to cause any problems as long as you follow the advice in your own leaflet.

Possible but rare reactions: If your skin gets worse during treatment, you may have a skin infection, or a trigger you haven't recognised, or even an allergy to the cream.

• Stop using it and see your doctor as soon as possible

More about eczema and dermatitis: Skin specialists often advise people with eczema or dermatitis to use emollient (or moisturising) skin products, including creams and bath oils, to keep moisture in the skin. This can make your skin more resistant to flare-ups. Avoid using soap and heavily scented products. Ask your pharmacist for further information.

If a rash comes back: Sometimes people with dermatitis find their rash soon comes back after treatment, or never disappears completely. This is often because they are still in contact with their trigger: the thing that caused the reaction, If you can't work out what's wrong, ask your doctor for advice.

• These are common triggers:
• Ear rings or studs (especially gold-plated ear rings)
• Other jewellery
• Coins
• Watch buckles, metal straps or the metal back of a watch
• Metal studs or fastenings on jeans, bras or underwear.

All of these have a metal in called nickel, which is a very common trigger: If you react badly to nickel, all of the triggers in list could be a problem. So if you've reacted badly to gold plated earrings, you'll need to watch out for buckles, coins jewellery and studs.

Other common triggers: Triggers include rubber and pine tree sap, which are used in all sorts of things we touch every day.

You might find triggers in the:

• Home: like plasters, furniture polish, varnishes rubber gloves or elastic in clothes
• Substances you use at work: like glues, oils, lubricants or cement
• Garden: certain plants and weeds, gardening gloves.

• Finding out more: You may be able to find out more from public libraries.
• You can contact the National Eczema Society, 163 Eversholt Street, London NW1 1BU - Helpline 020 7388 4800