I want to find a cure for my eczema. For over five years I have been living with eczema. I have been through this and that and several prescriptions for eczema looking for the one that would work for me. While none of the treatments or lotions would cure my eczema I found one that would work relatively well to get rid of the ugly red patches on my hands for a while.
After eliminating all of the sources of possible isothiasolinone exposure and still having eczema my doctor decided to try UV Light Therapy. This consisted of standing for less than 10 minutes in a little room made of light bulbs much like a tanning booth but many times more powerful. At first, I would be exposed for only a few minutes at a time until my skin got tanner and my tolerance increased. This worked like magic. After about 10 treatments I was nearly cured! Plus there was the added bonus of a nice dark suntan in the middle of the winter!
The next doctors I visited were Dermatological Specialists at a University Hospital. They took a piece of my skin and tested it in a laboratory after my first visit to rule out creepy stuff like Scabies. They kept me on steroids and changed my prescription from a steroid cream to an ointment and the itching lessened but did not go away completely. Living on steroids and slathering myself with moisturizing cream was helping me get through life one day at a time but I was still uncomfortable.
After five months on her very strict diet and about a month into her flax seed regimen, we began to finally see some results. The eczema began to retreat. At this point only her arms were still very affected, the rest of her body cleared up pretty well. As you can imagine, this was a huge relief to us. It was so wonderful to see Emily actually feel comfortable some of the time. However, it did return. About two months after it seemed to begin to clear, it came back full force. A few months later, the same thing occurred. We were baffled, frustrated, and exhausted. Emily was becoming self conscious in public, trying to hide her little baby arms behind her back because people would stare as though she were afflicted with some deadly and contagious disease. It got to the point where I stopped taking her out in public unless she could wear long sleeves, because it was beginning to affect her self esteem.
Several months later with no cure in sight I changed dermatologists. Perhaps it was a hot flash making me glow on the day I visited my new doctor for the first time but he was a bit overly friendly. He asked me about where I was itching and naturally wanted to see where the rash was on my body. I showed him my itchy arms and then my back. He wanted to know if it was a problem anywhere else as he felt my back. I had told him my chest had a rash too so he proceeded to have me show him my breasts only then to tell me they looked great to him! He did prescribe oral steroids which helped knock out about 90% of the rash but I changed doctors again. This guy was just too touchy feely for me.
Where the eczema occurs can be an indicator of its type. When itchy blisters appear on the the bottoms of baby's feet or on his or her palms, it is called Dyshidrotic eczema. This type of deep eczema is not related to allergies or contact, and will most likely need to be treated with steroids prescribed by a doctor.
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