Hello lovelies,It's Monday again. Ah the blues.
Anyway, today I've decided to share with you some tips on dealing with eczema.
I don't have eczema. But the hubs does. Nothing severe, thankfully, but they do need some looking after. So after almost a year of having to remind him to take his meds, apply his ointments and "no, you shouldn't use the (heavily) fruity (scented) bodywash", I thought I'd just share a few handy tips in dealing with eczema.
1. Firstly, if you do have eczema, go see a doctor to get treated. Proper advice with the right medication will help treat your condition immediately. So instead of surfing around the Internet hoping to find a self-cure for that impossible itch, just go see the doc, will you?
2. Shower with a gentle and mild bodywash. Try to avoid heavily scented ones, as the perfumes in the bodywash could trigger off your eczema. For that reason, the hubs has had to quit his fave bodywash, and is now only on Johnson's pH5.5, and Dermaveen. And his skin seems to be liking it.
3. After a shower, pat dry, not wipe/rub dry. Patting dry will still leave some moisture on your skin, which works really well with the next tip. Besides, the rubbing action can also trigger a spot to go itchy.
4. Apply a gentle moisturiser all over (such as Dove or Vaseline), preferably the unscented ones. If you have patches of rash, you can apply your topical ointment on the rash spots before applying the moisturiser all over.
5. In the case of the hubs, he has eczema, and he has allergies as well, which triggers of his rash, and as a result of that, aggravates his eczema. If you have a similar problem, it would do you good to identify the source of your allergies. Allergies could caused by certain kinds of material (eg. wool), or a particular food (eg. seafood), or animal fur or pollen from flowers etc. I think the hubs has narrowed his down to seafood, which is really too bad, because he loves it.
6.Take your medicine and apply that ointment. All that consultation with the doctor or skin specialist won't do you any good if you're not going to follow the doc's advise. After a really bad bout of rash the other day, he went to a doc, got the medication and was diligently applying his ointments (because the itch was REALLY bad). Two days after, when the itch had gone, he started slacking, and then one day asked: "Why is my skin SO ITCHY?" Uhh... DUH?
7. If you're travelling and have forgotten to bring your eczema ointment, fear not. Products like Papaw ointment and Vaseline (petroleum jelly - original or Aloe) should work quite decently as a replacement for those itchy spots until you get home, or get another tube of your steroid cream. I was keen to try out the Papaw ointment for his eczema after my cousin introduced my to this post by Karen Cheng.
8. Lastly, I notice that the hub's eczema always flares up when he's stressed out. So keep those stress levels in check, take one day at a time.
Here's to happy skin!
Note: Please note that So Loverly DOES NOT dispense medical advice. If you suffer from eczema, please consult a doctor.
8 comments:
Stress is a real killer on eczema - I should know, since I've been battling with it for the past 14 years of my life! :(
Thanks for the timely article.
I found that steroid creams from the dermatologist are absolutely useful, and I only use them when I need to because apparently, they thin the skin.
Paw Paw helped only so much - I slathered the stuff on religiously but it seems to work for some better than others.
My aunt bought some Chinese organic soap (from an organic shop) that I'll try out soon to see if it soothes the flare-ups.
I don't have that major eczema, I have a feeling I do have a mild one and I went to the dermatologist already and I'm now on treatment :)
EUCH! That is not a nice pic to see on a Monday morning!!
have you tried the bleach method? Google! =P
i've been using vaseline cocoa butter and havent had any eczema problems this year, and we're in the middle of winter now. love it!
Hey Syen! Hope you had a good weekend. Thanks for the interesting and informative post - I suffer from stress related eczema too, and it's truly a nightmare until the flare-up goes away....ugh....I'd like to add Eucerin's bath oil to the list of possible body washes since it is moisturising and has a rather mild, inoffensive fragrance.
Rinnah: Gah! I can imagine. Boo.
Petra: No prob! Yea, I agree that Papaw may not work as well for everyone. While it did help the hubs, I doubt it was as effective as his hydrocortisone cream.
Nikki: Righto.
Kahani: Sorry babe. It was the mildest of the lot, really. If you don't believe just google "eczema" and look at the pics that crop up. Just make sure you've had dinner before. As for bleach method, nope. Will check. Thanks!
Amy C: Didn't know you had eczema, but glad you found something that works! =)
Gypsy: Thanks for adding to the list! Noted! =)
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