A hospital is on the search for children with severe eczema to take part in a clinical study.

Chase Farm Hospital, in The Ridgeway, Enfield, is one of five centres in England being used in a study to test silk underclothes.

The fabric is said to have protective and anti-microbial properties that can heal skin but no large-scale trials have taken place.

Children enrolled in the study will be put into one of two groups. The first group will be asked to start wearing the underclothes straight away - either a bodysuit or vest and leggings depending on the child’s age.

Juliet Guiness, clinical trial nurse at the Royal Free London, who run Chase Farm, said: "We need to recruit another 30 children for the trial at our centre at Chase Farm Hospital and we are sure there are local children suffering from eczema who could be eligible to take part.

"People with eczema usually have worse symptoms as the weather changes and as there is more use of central heating in the autumn and winter months so now is a good time for us to find participants."

The trial is funded by National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme.

The trial will continue throughout 2015 and results should be available in June 2016.