Eczema before age 13

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Jul 1, 2016
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Hi everyone, so I'm currently in the process of applying for the class of 2021 while also entering my senior year of high school. I recently read that eczema disqualifies people, although I was diagnosed at a very young age I believe either 6 or 7. I haven't had any new prescribed medicine since that age. (It was mild eczema only on the side of my thigh) My mother occasionally gets a refill on the medication, (it's topical) every now and then to err on the side of caution. It hasn't occurred in a number of years and I don't use the medication, although like I said before it's still there just in case it should ever flare up again. Does this disqualify me and will I have to try and get a waiver for it?
 
From what I understand, if you still have to use your medication, you need to obtain a waiver.
 
The short answer is, none of us can say with certainty, although eczema after age 12 is a disqualification. If you search these forums under eczema, there's a lot of information including a couple of recent threads. The theme seems to be, the smaller the patch and the longer ago it was, the better your chances for a waiver.
 
I had the same thing. They initially DQ'd me but I was able to get a waiver once I explained the situation.
 
The standard for disqualification is "Current or history of atopic dermatitis (691) or eczema (692.9) after the 12th birthday"
The medical history form asks if you ever had ... you would check yes and explain the severity, when the eczema was diagnosed and that it is resolved with no occurrence since (insert date). That may be good enough.

Over the counter topical medication will be no issue. But, if it was a prescription refill, that could be an issue. For the past 10 years your mom has periodically refilled your prescription medication for eczema just in case. Typically to get a prescription medication from a physician a diagnosis is required. They usually will not write a prescription "just in case". It is possible that eczema still shows up as a diagnosis in your records, or in your physician's mind and in your records it is not resolved. Check/review your medical records. Insure that there is not a diagnosis for eczema since 12 years old. See if you can find something that says your eczema had been resolved before you were 12. You want to insure you report truthfully.

Mild eczema after the age of 12 is a waiverable condition. It will depend on the needs of your service and how bad they want you.
 
The standard for disqualification is "Current or history of atopic dermatitis (691) or eczema (692.9) after the 12th birthday"
The medical history form asks if you ever had ... you would check yes and explain the severity, when the eczema was diagnosed and that it is resolved with no occurrence since (insert date). That may be good enough.

Over the counter topical medication will be no issue. But, if it was a prescription refill, that could be an issue. For the past 10 years your mom has periodically refilled your prescription medication for eczema just in case. Typically to get a prescription medication from a physician a diagnosis is required. They usually will not write a prescription "just in case". It is possible that eczema still shows up as a diagnosis in your records, or in your physician's mind and in your records it is not resolved. Check/review your medical records. Insure that there is not a diagnosis for eczema since 12 years old. See if you can find something that says your eczema had been resolved before you were 12. You want to insure you report truthfully.

Mild eczema after the age of 12 is a waiverable condition. It will depend on the needs of your service and how bad they want you.

My physician actually never wrote a prescription. This was from the paediatrician i had when I was younger and he's retired now. He gave us the prescription when I was first diagnosed with it and it's just been the same prescription ever since. I think it was just refillable or something
 
5day is right, one of your current physician would've had to continuously write new prescriptions for you to keep getting that medication. Your retired pediatrician would not have been able to write you a refillable prescription that would've lasted 10+ years, non-controlled prescriptions expire after one year of the time it is written.
 
The medication that I was prescribed was mometasone 0.1% topical cream. I would think because of how mild the condition was, that the medication isn't very potent. Would that help at all if I had to go through the waiver process? Also, I asked my mom and it turns out I was actually diagnosed at around 11/12 months old instead of 6/7 years old like I initially thought.
 
Finish the application, disclose that you had eczema in the past on your medical history form, indicate that it has not occurred since you were 11/12 and get a letter from a dermatologist that says you do not currently have eczema (after an examination, of course). Even if you get DQ'd, a waiver is definitely possible (I got one) if you don't currently have the condition. I don't think this should even trigger a DQ if you explain it on the medical history form. Just work out the hurdles as they come, but the letter from the dermatologist was definitely instrumental in my case.
 
Go to a dermatologist ASAP.

Your ped. doc is more like a general practitioner. They look at and say, it looks like eczema, here's the prescription.

A dermatologist will see the tell tale signs.
 
Go to a dermatologist ASAP.

Your ped. doc is more like a general practitioner. They look at and say, it looks like eczema, here's the prescription.

A dermatologist will see the tell tale signs.

I am planning on doing so, but the issue is that it hasn't acted up in so many years that I'm not sure how my dermatologist will be able to tell me if it was a misdiagnosis or not.
 
I am planning on doing so, but the issue is that it hasn't acted up in so many years that I'm not sure how my dermatologist will be able to tell me if it was a misdiagnosis or not.

Are you sure it wasn't a case of dry baby skin? My now 3 yr old DD, had patches of dry skin because of the soap we were using. Dr said baby eczema, but advised us to use some RX cream, switch bath soaps, and that's it. If it was my current USNA hopeful, I wouldn't have even remembered it because I wouldn't have asked the doctor again unless it kept happening.
If it was when you were a baby, it most likely wasn't "Eczema" as classified like a previous poster said. Just odd that your mom would keep filling an RX when you had no breakouts? Why would a doctor continue to give without seeing you still had the dry skin?
 
Are you sure it wasn't a case of dry baby skin? My now 3 yr old DD, had patches of dry skin because of the soap we were using. Dr said baby eczema, but advised us to use some RX cream, switch bath soaps, and that's it. If it was my current USNA hopeful, I wouldn't have even remembered it because I wouldn't have asked the doctor again unless it kept happening.
If it was when you were a baby, it most likely wasn't "Eczema" as classified like a previous poster said. Just odd that your mom would keep filling an RX when you had no breakouts? Why would a doctor continue to give without seeing you still had the dry skin?

I'm not sure if it was a misdiagnosis or not because it was our pediatrician rather than a dermatologist who made the initial diagnosis. And I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but my mom currently does have eczema that flares up on her hands sometimes. She has always just used my prescription for it. But I did have flare ups as well when I was 6/7 which made the doctors think it was eczema as well. (Also just to clarify, it was only a small patch on my right thigh.)
 
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