- Viral infections: Protopic Ointment may increase the chance of getting chicken pox, shingles, skin warts, or other viral infections.

- Skin irritation: Protopic Ointment’s most common side effects are stinging, soreness, a burning feeling, or itching of the skin where you apply the ointment.

- Headache and flu-like symptoms.

- Increased chance of developing skin cancer and lymphoma.

Just looking at the last possible side effect will tell you why Protopic Ointment should be considered the last choice for eczema treatment. Protopic ointment is another form of treatment that puts you and your child’s health as risk for temporary relief. I believe this is another reason why the FDA puts its highest black box warning on this product. And like its counterpart, Elidel Cream, there are still unknown long term effects for using Protopic Ointment.

But I truly believe parents shouldn’t get this far down the eczema treatment line. There are more cases and more research that comes out and points to more natural treatments to treat baby eczema. For starters, read my post about moisturizing your babies skin with the correct moisturizer here.