Friday 12 October 2012

How I 'Cured' My Eczema

I had suffered from this horrendous skin condition virtually since birth.  I had put up with the unbearable itching and pain that prevented me from sleeping, the cracking and weeping and the unsightly flakey skin.  I had, on occasion, been caught, completely absent mindedly scratching away and pulling bits of flakey skin off and perhaps this was one of the worst aspects of this condition - the embarrassment.    Twenty five years on, I can say that I have finally got it completely under control.

I say 'cured' - with the quotations, in the title of this blog entry because although I don't suffer with eczema any more, I believe that it would return just as quickly as it disappeared if I was to stop my current skin care routine.

I would like to make it clear from the outset that everything in this blog post is just my opinion and I am not sponsored by any of the manufacturers of the products that I mention here.  This routine works for me but it may not work for you.  I wanted to share it with you because it has changed my life and if it does the same for just one other person then I'll be over the moon.  If you follow this routine and it does work for you, I would love to hear from you.

Like me, you've probably tried every 'miracle cure', Chinese herbs, every pore clogging emollient cream, every oily bath mixture, every moisturiser, every scent free, colour free and fun free product out there and spent a small fortune in the process.  If you're like me, you also have a cupboard full of half used bottles, pots and sprays that all remind you that you're never going to find anything that sorts out your skin.  Don't give up - it's just about finding what works for you.

One of the worst affected areas of my body was the skin around the corners of my mouth.  I would permanently have itchy, red, flakey cracked skin.  It stopped me from smiling widely, yawning  properly or opening my mouth wider than absolutely necessary because every time I did, the skin painfully cracked open.

One day I decided to stop eating any citrus fruit when I noticed that whenever I ate pineapple, I suffered from ulcers inside my mouth and my palate went soft and prone to injury.  By sheer fluke, this is how I found out that citrus fruit also triggered the eczema around my mouth.  It took a few weeks, but my mouth cleared up completely.  I also found that the patches of eczema on the rest of my body were not quite as bad - but sadly far from cured.

If you suffer from eczema around your mouth then I would also warn against using toothpaste that has the blue colouring in it.  Stick to the plain white stuff.  Also, do not use alcohol hand sanitisers.  I don't know the science behind it but it sets my eczema off something chronic!

I also suffered from nasty patches of eczema on the insides of my elbows, neck, on my wrists and hands (severely), around my eyes, behind my knees and on my lower legs.  One day I spotted a new body lotion and decided to give it a whirl.  At around £5.10 for 200ml, Vaseline Intensive rescue repair and protect lotion was not going to break the bank but I had a feeling it would end up on the 'lotions and potions scrapheap' with the rest of them.  However, this stuff worked like magic.  At first, on raw, broken skin, it stings like a *insert swear word here* but it works.  It helped my skin to start to retain some moisture and within just a couple of weeks, my skin was looking pretty much normal save for a little bit of redness.

I used this lotion religiously all over (including on my face and around my eyes) for months and regularly gently exfoliated and all trace of redness and eczema disappeared.  But then I got bored and fed up.  The lotion starts to feel a bit waxy on the skin after a while and in warm weather, it made me feel quite clammy.  I also craved something with some scent to it - bonkers I know when you've discovered something that stops your eczema dead in its tracks, but hey-ho, that's just how I am.

Next, I tried Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E.  It smells good enough to eat, and again, it's a snip at around £3.60 for 250mls.  I started slathering this on (including my face - although excluding my t zone as it can trigger spots) around 2 years ago and it keeps the eczema at bay and it keeps me happy as it smoothes my skin and leaves it smelling heavenly.  If I get bored of the smell, I swap it for the scent free version for a while.

If I get lazy and don't use Palmer's for a few days, I can see a dramatic difference in the condition of my skin and the eczema starts to slowly return which in turn very quickly motivates me to start slapping it on again.

I would say that Palmer's doesn't seem to be able to clear up the eczema on it's own, it just seems to prevent it flaring up.  So, if I have an allergic reaction to something and I have a flare up, I simply apply the Vaseline lotion and it puts everything right and then I revert back to the Palmer's to maintain the skin condition.  I have now not used a steroid cream for years.

With my skin being so pale, it's virtually opaque, I was also delighted to find that Palmer's gradual tanning lotion is also compatible with my skin.  I wouldn't want to apply it every day because it has the classic fake tan smell but when I apply it a couple of times a week, it leaves my skin nicely moisturised and takes the edge off my the blue hue.

I realise I've rambled on so here it is paraphrased:


  1. Try cutting out citrus fruits from your diet;
  2. Clear up the eczema with Vaseline lotion (make sure you get the right one! See above), apply it every day and every time your skin comes into contact with water;
  3. Exfoliate very gently on a regular basis (eg. twice a week) once the eczema has cleared;
  4. Maintain the skin condition by swapping the Vaseline lotion with Palmer's.  Apply it every day and every time your skin comes into contact with water.  Keep exfoliating.
  5. Treat flare ups with Vaseline lotion.
  6. Avoid applying these lotions to your t-zone if you are prone to breakouts.

As I said before, this won't work for everyone but it's had a dramatic effect on me and hopefully some of you will experience an improvement by giving it a try.  The great thing is that these products can be used on children and it doesn't cost the earth.

Good luck and if it works for you, spread the word!  

      
 




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