# Eczema and other skin disorders



## KimThanh (Jul 27, 2014)

I looked back 4 pages and didn't see anything about skin afflictions/diseases so I thought I'd share my (mis)adventures with eczema.

Skin problems has been recurrent in my family for years. My brother and I had very little acne growing up, but later in our twenties we had trouble with localized eczema. Redness, itching, flaking, and unfortunately infections. At first, I had it on my lower legs which was just horrible in the summer. This happened regardless of the season or activities. I'd wash, apply moisturizers, didn't shave for months... It lasted about 5 months until it suddenly just went away.

Then, 3 years ago I started having dry, red patches around my fingers. It started on the top of my hands, always on the joints. I'd just dismiss it as allergies from the workplace (the airport is a cesspool of dust, grime and bacteria) so I'd wash and keep my hands as protected as possible with gloves. 

But it got worse. The patches would grow, lesions from scratching would bleed and get infected. The scratching only increased with stress and it became really, really annoying a year later when it affected my palms. I'd be wearing band aids at that point when I decided to see my doctor about it. She prescribed me a cortizone-based ointment which helped make the lesions disappear and my skin cleared out. 

I tried eating better but I SUCK at maintaining a balanced diet. So I take vitamin supplements, drank lapacho tea which really helped regenerate my skin and reduce my depression. Lately I started taking vit-D, did that for a week and the eczema was GONE. And then... I stopped for three days, and that's why it's come back. 

My body should produce its own vit-D from sun exposure but I hate the sun, I feel like I'm burning and I get really uncomfortable if I'm not in the shade. (Vampire much? lol) so I guess I have to take supplements. 

Now, it's on my armpits. I was in a state of panic last night because it got infected with red lumps in my under arm area so I rushed to the doctor again. Turns out my new work uniform was causing it. My brother has it worse though, the eczema is on his face and he's experimenting so many drugs and diets, it's really affected his social life and work but unlike me he doesn't have SA so he had no trouble bouncing back from it.

Tell me your eczema/skin problems story! :teeth


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## tea111red (Nov 8, 2005)

I've had problems w/ eczema for many years now and I think stress tends to cause flare ups, but I recently found a product that works at healing it pretty well. It's called Ultra Repair Cream by First Aid Beauty.

http://www.sephora.com/ultra-repair-cream-P248407

This sounded like an ad, lol. It works, though!


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## coeur_brise (Oct 7, 2004)

I've had ezcema in my inner elbows and other places or the longest time, like from age 7-18 so yeah I know the feeling. It went away in most places yet still appears in some, mostly my face and hands, even around my eyes. I've not tried many solutions, but yes I'd say stress causes flare-ups and if I eat too much sugar, my skin reacts immediately with a flare up, irritated skin, itchiness, etc. So yeah, only solution for me is no sugar and marinating healthy digestion so less toxins in the bloodstream.


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## villadb (Dec 30, 2012)

I suffer from it mainly in winter. I left it for so long before going to the doctor that it was pretty horrific and would weep whenever I scratched it, it was minging. I get this great steroid cream on prescription that deals with it straight away, nothing else really makes a difference.


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## cryptoboy (Jul 30, 2014)

I recommand this article - http://www.health-mag.info/2014/08/home-remedies-for-pimples-in-nowadays.html in my free internet magazine. Then I write about pimples and skin disorders


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## eveningbat (Jan 21, 2013)

It could be an underlying symptom of some autoimmune disease.


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## JustKittenRightMeow (Jul 25, 2011)

Well I've never officially been diagnosed as having eczema but I know I have it. Thankfully it's behind my ears so one really notices it except doctors when they do to check my ears. 

The past year or two it's actually gotten better...still a huge patch of dry skin but it no longer oozes or goes raw (which ****ing hurts lol...doesn't help I have no self-control when it comes to scratching.)



actually I think I may have it on my stomach too which can get really bad (especially if the top of my pants rubs it...****ing hurts).


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## mezzoforte (May 16, 2010)

Yeah I've had some skin issues...My dermatologist doesn't know what it is, but I'll get a rash that'll randomly appear and then it'll completely clear up for weeks or months, and then pop back up again, sometimes in a different spot. :con


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## KimThanh (Jul 27, 2014)

Yeah, we're always hoping it's going to go away if we stop thinking about it. Peolpe have told me "don't pick at it, it'll go away" but they. Just. Don't. Know.

I may be scratching during my sleep, to confirm that I'd have to get my room under video surveillance :b

What I hate about my doctor is how easily she'll prescribe steroid topical creme. That stuff works once, then it's an escalation of medication... Right now I'm asking myself if I should be on antibiotics. My digestive system is super sensitive to it and I really can't take that much inconvenience. I guess I'll just keep my infected armpit clean and desinfected as often as I can. Also I can't afford to mess up my immune system if I want to keep working. 

Evil, greedy pharma corps.


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## Live Through This (Aug 24, 2014)

My eczema flares up the most in summer. Between that, heat rash, and keratosis pilaris, my skin is just a mess. It's sensitive and I can't do much to it without irritating it. It's actually not so bad anymore, though it's behind my knees right now. My mom had it growing up and she said it mostly went away as she aged. I'm hoping that's the case with me. 

Like everyone else, if it really starts bothering me, I use whatever medication my dermatologist prescribes.


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## Roch (Jul 7, 2014)

I had extremely bad eczema growing up too, almost everyone on my dads side had it. Mines was located on my neck and inner forearms. Sometime in middle school a doctor gave me this wacky method to treat it and it literally went away. I believe it was once a week and I had to rub Selsun Blue shampoo all over the problem areas before I went to bed. I was to leave it on overnight and in the morning take a shower and wash it off. If I remember correctly this was repeated weekly until it completely disappeared. It was such a miracle haha. I still get tiny spots here and there but thankfully they are not to the magnitude it was when I was younger and they usually just disappear.


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## Wagnerian (Aug 5, 2014)

I had it for a long time all over my face...I also had seborrheic dermatitis on my scalp (really sucks).

I really am not sure why the stuff on my scalp went away. My mom worked on it with some ointment but it would always come back....yet after a certain point it stopped without explanation....

I think the stuff on my face was because I ate WAY too much olive oil. I mean like, a bottle every two days.


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## Raynic781 (Feb 8, 2013)

I have VERY dry skin. I hate moisturizing because it takes too long, lol, but I've gotten into a habit of doing it now and I've seen a huge difference.


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## whiteWhale (Nov 19, 2009)

Mine is worst in the winter too. I've used the RX steroid creams as well but they are pretty nasty stuff. In time they start to thin your skin in the areas that you apply them. Luckily my eczema isn't that bad and mostly only on the arms and hands so I was able to ween off them and finally found a moisturizer that helps. The neosporin eczema essentials seems to work well. Putting it on right after a shower helps a lot. Water feels good while running over it, but when it dries it just makes the itch worse.


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## SeanT (Aug 24, 2014)

Yeah i have bad skin myself.


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## SummerRae (Nov 21, 2013)

I've had eczema since about *two months after I was born*, tried everything and it never went away until I was about 14 and I tried _hydrocortisone_ (prescription ONLY works) it went away for GOOD! Or so I thought; my skin got used to the medicine and started to reject it and now it's back. Not nearly as bad, but still back. :no


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## beli mawr (Dec 18, 2013)

I've always had eczema. I've been having great trouble with flare up sin the past year or so. It's now beginning to occur in places I never had trouble before, like between fingers which is really annoying.

When I was a child (mid 80s), even teachers would ostracise me for being "unclean", although that was far from the truth. It was the stigma eczema carried with it back then. I had to deal with that garbage from people every day. Mostly on my arms and legs. Fortunately, the only time I had issues on my face was when I wore plastic glasses as a child.


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## xbre (Jul 17, 2013)

I've had eczema all my life, along with Keratosis Pilaris and chronically dry feet. (yuck I know.) Definitely doesn't help my SA.  I think my eczema was always related to seasonal allergies, but then my skin gets chronically dry in the winter. The thing that has helped me the most is the sun and tanning beds. Avoid hot showers, and try to figure out what aggravates it. It could even be gluten or dairy causing you issues. 
Someone above mentioned the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream and its funny cause I just ordered that! I've heard a lot of good things about it. 
Also look into Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. It really helped my skin.


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## anyoldkindofday (Dec 16, 2012)

Ah great, I come in here hoping for stories on this **** going away, guess not . 

Recently got diagnosed with seborrhoeic eczema(no clue how you spell either of those) on my scalp while trying to find a way to get rid of the acne around there. Seeing as I'm going bald I'd hate it if that sh*t's still there by the time my hair recedes to the point where I'm forced to used a razor on it. Would likely destroy a large portion of the self-esteem I've gained over the past few years..


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## escapistmind (Sep 7, 2014)

I have suffered from eczema for a long time but right now it is very controlled. From what the Doctor told me ( and this was a long time ago ) it may never fully go away and its all down to controlling the condition.
For many years I tried lots of creams and treatments but none seemed to work.

If anything worked for me it was changing my diet and cutting out as much sugar as possible. At the moment I have no visible eczema or excessive need to scratch. I do still use cream (mostly after showers ) to keep on top of this and my skin in decent condition.

If you haven't tried so already I definitely recommend trying to change your diet and sticking to this for a while to see if it works for you too. KimThanh, I realise you mentioned you've tried this already but I thought I'd mention it anyway as hopefully others may have success with trying this. Also this approach is free ( but should be used with general treatment to sooth itchiness / pain ) and will hopefully have additional benefits of just eating more healthy in general!


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## kivi (Dec 5, 2014)

I have eczema on my hands. It disappears sometimes. It worsens if I touch lemon juice, tomato juice and other asidic things. It also worsens when I'm under stress. I use soap-free cleansing bar. I never use liquid soap (it really makes it worse for me).


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## Penny46 (Dec 16, 2014)

You want to be EXTREMELY careful with those topical steroid creams the dermatologist may prescribe!!! I am on a message board with thousands of people who are having terrible withdrawal from topical steroid use. Some people's skin becomes "addicted" to using it...if your eczema gets much, much worse and spreads all over the place, beware! And go look at some Youtube videos from Dr. Rapaport and others on "topical steroid withdrawal."


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## loneranger (Dec 29, 2012)

I've been dealing with dermatitis lately. I tried everything and nothing has really worked.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J120AZ using Tapatalk


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