Eczema/allergy - human

[thatsnotmyname]

I am looking for info on behalf of a relative who is sadly at their absolute wits end and incredibly depressed.

This is something I know nothing about but feel compelled to at least try help them get some answers as it is incredibly distressing for them. They work in a customer facing job.

They have extremely severe eczema as an adult and have done since they were born. They are early 30s and I have always remembered them being itchy/scratchy and prescribed E45, o
Other emolients, sudocrem (doesn’t work)
They have also asthma.

Just trying to think of a list of pointers that might help.

Milk - aggravates it
Has nut allergy
Thinks the starchy stuff/sugars in oat milk and oat based creams are making it worse.
Think it might be a gut/immunity issue - where to start

Dermatology is at a loss - keep recommending steroid creams

They have an air purifier in tbe
Main rooms in the house.

Just need a bit of hive mind input. I have helped them but I seem to have exhausted the limited knowledge I had left! Re immunity - obviously they have had it long term but it has got worse as they have aged, suggested lyme exposure. Going to get tested.

Any other input gratefully received as poor lass is at the end of the tether !

 

[Cavalier]

Are there still places that will make up hand creams and the like on an individual basis using essential oils?

I had terrible eczema on my hands as did my cousin who wanted to go into midwifery. She used a cream with lavender and borage in which was made up especially for her. The eczema cleared within a couple of months and 30 years later has never returned. Based on her success I tried the same and again great results.

 

[YourValentine]

I've struggled with excema on my face for years, and never found a cure. Flare ups a definitely stress related but I seem *touch wood* to be managing it with a combination of steroids creams (Eumovate), a Moisturiser that doesn't aggregate it (clinique moisture surge, after much trial and error), and a few vitamin supplements started for other reasons but seem to help or could just be a coincidence (Vit C & D, and these https://www.hairburst.com/products/...30621344ff25327395ded22e&utm_content=Vitamins)

 

[thatsnotmyname]

Are there still places that will make up hand creams and the like on an individual basis using essential oils?

I had terrible eczema on my hands as did my cousin who wanted to go into midwifery. She used a cream with lavender and borage in which was made up especially for her. The eczema cleared within a couple of months and 30 years later has never returned. Based on her success I tried the same and again great results.

Pretty much every essential oil going she seems to have an allergy or reaction to so far.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Your friend has all my sympathy. I started with a lactose intolerance and went on to have multiple allergies/intolerances diagnosed. It is thought that they stem from having to take long-term antibiotics as a teenager.
I'm afraid that finding a useful topical treatment is just trial and error, as every individual is different. I've just started using a gel that I found on Amazon with silver, vitE and aloe vera, which seems to be working well on the dry, flaky skin but a flare up does need steroid cream. I can't use E45 because I react badly to lanolin.
My advice is for your friend to ask for allergy testing. I have a long list of foods to avoid and can't use any perfumed household or cosmetic products.
My problem is sugars, in the main.

 

[Rowreach]

Sounds like she definitely needs a full panel of allergy tests, but from experience (and ending up hospitalised with eczema in my 20s) what sorted mine out was paying for a private consultation with a dermatologist who then referred me to himself on the NHS. He did use steroids initially but also pushed me to use massive amounts of aqueous cream (very cheap) and find out the aggravators - for me it was all the Ws, which is usual for eczema = water, warmth, weather, and wool. Wool is a big one for me, anything with lanolin in it causes a flare up, but the other one was living in a hard water area. At the time I was in London, but also spent some time in the south of England. Moving back to NI resulted in a dramatic improvement because the water is much much softer, and the weather has fewer extremes.

 

[HorseMaid]

My daughter has suffered with eczema/allergies for her whole life (she's 22), last year after months of it being really bad on her face/eyes as well as the usual places behind knees elbows etc, the doctor prescribed her some Protopic/Tacrolimus cream. It's an immunosuppressant, not something to be trifled with (but it's also not a steroid and can be put on the face) - the first few times it's applied it gives a burning sensation which can be understandably off-putting - BUT after I'd say a week of using it my daughter's skin all of a sudden looked amazing, for the first time in her adult life, it was actually an incredible difference.

I think people taper down to using it once a week or so, and there are possible side effects, but the difference to my daughter and her mental health was worth it, truly.

 

[Follysmum]

My daughter suffers terrible flare ups . Been countless times to hospital and private dermatologist. They all just give her steroids and last visit at dermatologist he said he had never seen such a bad case and felt awfully sorry for her living with it. Her face looks like a burns victim it’s really is horrific. She can’t have most diary and has cut out alcohol.

They all suggest to use the infa beds they are like the sun beds without the rays.

Stress and cold to warm definitely make it worse . The only cream that has been a massive help with using steroids at a minimum is Zoe bee Beauty veggie soufflé cream. Has made a big difference.

 

[Lilly-Mayspookatbags]

I suffer with contact dermatitis’s (similar to eczema ) The most random things will trigger a flare up and there’s no pattern to it .

I have tried way too many creams and steroids. They never help. Basically treat it the same as a burn (cold water /ice packs).

The best thing I have done is use light therapy (sunbeds or natural sun or the happy lamps you can get). It encourages the skin to produce the correct oils and heal itself. It is used on the NHS but they use it as a last resort.

The photo doesn’t do it justice as it has a filter on to smooth the skin. However this has fully cleared since using the light therapy. I have the occasional flare up but it can usually resolve itself. Best thing I ever did.

 

[Follysmum]

I suffer with contact dermatitis’s (similar to eczema ) The most random things will trigger a flare up and there’s no pattern to it .

I have tried way too many creams and steroids. They never help. Basically treat it the same as a burn (cold water /ice packs).

The best thing I have done is use light therapy (sunbeds or natural sun or the happy lamps you can get). It encourages the skin to produce the correct oils and heal itself. It is used on the NHS but they use it as a last resort.

The photo doesn’t do it justice as it has a filter on to smooth the skin. However this has fully cleared since using the light therapy. I have the occasional flare up but it can usually resolve itself. Best thing I ever did.

My daughter is on the nhs list to use the beds , so expensive to pay private , needs to use at least twice a week to be effective apparently . She has bought a mask but as she has it so severe all over the beds are the best for her.

 

[lialls]

Eczema (and other skin conditions) has a very high change of being caused by milk/lactose, flare ups can be caused by stress but predominantly it will be down to diet. I would speak to a functional doctor who used Kinesiology to test for allergies. Somewhere like - https://www.functionalkinesiology.co.uk/contact-us/
Or a private nutritionist should be able to help get things back to where they should be.

I wouldn't bother with any creams or lotions and potions, treatment will need to be focused on healing the gut and thus in time they maybe able to tolerate milk in their diet again.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I wouldn't bother with any creams or lotions and potions, treatment will need to be focused on healing the gut and thus in time they maybe able to tolerate milk in their diet agagain.

Good luck with that!

 

[Duckling23]

Hi. I'm a long-time lurker here on the forum but felt I wanted to respond to this because it's such a common (and painful) issue. I suffered from severe eczema as a child/teen and still occasionally get a little bit of eczema as an adult. This also comes with a bad case of sun allergy and a range of allergies to different types of pollen, which is a common combination with eczema. I have found no connection with any kind of food, and I tried a number of exclusion diets at the time. A healthy diet never helps, but I found no connection with the common (alleged) culprits.
In my experience, steroids made it worse, long-term and just using emollients didn't help/exacerbated the issue if not used in combination with other products. Emollients alone do not moisturise the skin as they mostly provide a (somewhat) waterproof barrier of to the skin in order to keep moisture in the skin without adding any water. This is why you can have dry but oily skin. Oils, Butters, greasy ointments do not moisturise the skin. If you use heavy emollients on chronically dry skin, it can dry the skin out further as no moisture is getting in where no moisture can get out. For me, at least, this also increased itchiness enormously.

Skin with eczema usually has an elevated pH compared to healthy skin. Healthy skin should have a pH around 4,7 to 5.7, so just a little bit acidic. In people with eczema, this is often higher. I found what worked for me by coincidence. My mother brought me a bottle of Forever Living Aloe Vera Spray and a tube of their Aloe Vera Gelly from holiday (it was available in Spain back then) in the hopes that it might help as she had used it on her sunburn. Aloe Vera is slightly acidic (I didn't know this at the time) but I was desperate (dermatologist said there was nothing more they could do), and it was high summer, hot weather and my feet and legs were covered in eczema. I sprayed on the Aloe First spray frequently and then put the gelly on top, hoping mostly for a cooling/soothing effect. Pretty miraculously, I thought, the inflammation went down and the eczema disappeared within a fairly short period of time. This is so long ago, I can't remember exactly how long it took, but it was noticeably quick and I was much more comfortable within days. It cleared up completely, which no steroid had managed before. It came back every year when the warmer months arrived, but each time disappeared after treatment with the Aloe Spray/Gel combination and gradually got less severe, to the point that it eventually completely stopped (a tiny patch on my hand every now and then aside). Many years later, during the first lockdown, I started really getting into cosmetics and formulating my own as I do still have sensitive skin and had a few gripes with shop bought products that I wanted to work on. So I bought a book on cosmetic science and started to learn about the skin and cosmetics in more detail. Now, my hypothesis as to why the aloe spray/gelly worked so well is that a) aloe seems to be a miraculous substance just as it is, but b) because it is acidic, and the inflammation in eczema causes the skin pH to be out of balance. Using a slightly acidic but mild spray (water - hydration!) and then a light gel on top rather than heavy grease brought the pH and the inflammation down and helped hydrate the skin. I suspect you could use any other aloe spray and gel of good quality and I used these products (which are still sold today) about 15 years ago, so they may have been reformulated since. I have checked the Aloe First spray and it contains bee propolis now. I can't be sure but I feel like the bottle didn't say that back then. Propolis is a common contact allergen, so I would be careful with that. But from my experience, I would try bringing down the skin pH in the affected areas through water-based products rather than heavy, greasy creams. Then, once the redness and inflammation went down, I used to follow the application of the spray with a urea (10%) based lotion to help the skin barrier. These days, I use my own balm that I have formulated for myself, on any small patches that show signs of redness and flaking, after (!) having applied some water-based product, ideally with aloe, but in a pinch, just water has been okay, too, to bring moisture into the skin. When I have a bad sun allergy outbreak on holiday, I usually use whatever aloe very gel that I have available (never travel without it).
Anything containing essential oils should not be used on eczema-prone skin. They are amongst the most common allergens and do not have any tangible skincare benefits, especially not as they can only be used at around 1% in a formulation due to their concentration of different irritants which can be phototoxic (making skin more prone to sun damage) and cause dermatitis. If you have had success with creams containing essential oils, this is likely despite the essential oils, not because of them (and you are lucky not to have had an adverse reaction to them). It will have been a different ingredient in the cream that helped. Ideally, you want to use unscented products only as both perfumes and essential oils can irritate the skin. Frequent washing with detergent (i.e. shower gel etc) should be avoided as it washes out more of the skin's own emollients from atopic skin. If using aloe vera gel/spray, I would ensure it contains no fragrances or other additives other than preservatives (which is important, do not try to make aloe products at home, they spoil within days and fungal infections of the skin etc. are no joke). Some have a little bit of glycerin or similar in them, which should be fine and can help the skin.
Important to note I have no scientific proof, but this method has worked very well on me and friends & family, so it might be worth a try.

 

[Duckling23]

Oops, I meant to say a healthy diet never hurts of course, not that it never helps

 

[Jenko109]

Highly unlikely to be relevant for your friend, but if she has a copper coil she should consider if it is making the eczema worse.

I had NEVER had eczema. At about 28 I decided to try a copper coil. Within about three weeks I was covered in eczema. I stuck it out as doctors were adamant the copper coil could not cause eczema. It was everywhere. All over my face and my torso, up my legs etc. I stuck it out for about 4 months.

Then I insisted they remove the copper coil. Within a few weeks my skin was 75% better. Within 2 months it was all gone.

I have never had eczema since.

 

[JGC]

I have had eczema and psoriasis all my life, sometimes with very big lesions, other times better. I now only use Savon de Marseille (a soap made with olive oil, three ingredients, absolutely nothing with scent) on my skin or La Roche Posay shower gel (but it's uber expensive). I use the savon de Marseille like a shampoo bar too.

Anything else will set my skin off so it bleeds, including any kind of shampoo with sulfates and silicones - even run off from that in the shower is enough. I usually only work a couple of days in the office, but had to go everyday for a week in summer - my hands were bleeding at the end of the week just from using the soap in the loos there.

 

[thatsnotmyname]

Your friend has all my sympathy. I started with a lactose intolerance and went on to have multiple allergies/intolerances diagnosed. It is thought that they stem from having to take long-term antibiotics as a teenager.
I'm afraid that finding a useful topical treatment is just trial and error, as every individual is different. I've just started using a gel that I found on Amazon with silver, vitE and aloe vera, which seems to be working well on the dry, flaky skin but a flare up does need steroid cream. I can't use E45 because I react badly to lanolin.
My advice is for your friend to ask for allergy testing. I have a long list of foods to avoid and can't use any perfumed household or cosmetic products.
My problem is sugars, in the main.

99% sure they’ve had regular allergy testing done and they are allergic to pretty much all of the common aggravators.

Also lanolin!

Is there a more in depth food based test for this?

They are back on antibiotics as they now have a localised infection due to open sores

 

[thatsnotmyname]

Highly unlikely to be relevant for your friend, but if she has a copper coil she should consider if it is making the eczema worse.

I had NEVER had eczema. At about 28 I decided to try a copper coil. Within about three weeks I was covered in eczema. I stuck it out as doctors were adamant the copper coil could not cause eczema. It was everywhere. All over my face and my torso, up my legs etc. I stuck it out for about 4 months.

Then I insisted they remove the copper coil. Within a few weeks my skin was 75% better. Within 2 months it was all gone.

I have never had eczema since.

No copper coil in this case x

 

[thatsnotmyname]

Eczema (and other skin conditions) has a very high change of being caused by milk/lactose, flare ups can be caused by stress but predominantly it will be down to diet. I would speak to a functional doctor who used Kinesiology to test for allergies. Somewhere like - https://www.functionalkinesiology.co.uk/contact-us/
Or a private nutritionist should be able to help get things back to where they should be.

I wouldn't bother with any creams or lotions and potions, treatment will need to be focused on healing the gut and thus in time they maybe able to tolerate milk in their diet again.

I think we are going down this path tbh, very strongly feel it is immunity/gut based at this point.

 

[thatsnotmyname]

Huge thank you to everyone that’s taken the time to reply.

Sorry a lot of you have had a hard time with it

They are allergic to most if not all essential oils

Their job makes them get quite hot (they are aware this doesn’t help unfortunately)

They have definitely done normal allergy testing but don’t think an in depth food only trigger one.
Allergic to nuts
Dust
Milk/lactose sets it off
Oats
Cats/dogs - can’t be avoided due to partners job


They’ve used every steroid, emollient going from the doctors.

Will mention the aloe Vera - don’t recall them trying this.

I have known them 31 years and I don’t ever remember them not having sore painful skin.
I can’t imagine how rubbish that must be.
She’s on the NHS roundabout from gp to dermatology and back and just hasn’t really made any progress.
We have asked so many different people for help so thought I’d try HHO - you’re all good at this. Thank you x

 

[Pearlsasinger]

99% sure they’ve had regular allergy testing done and they are allergic to pretty much all of the common aggravators.

Also lanolin!

Is there a more in depth food based test for this?

They are back on antibiotics as they now have a localised infection due to open sores

I was lucky. After dozens of GP appointments over at least 15 yrs (can't quite remember now) for various symptoms, not just eczema, which were later shown to be related, I finally saw a Dr who referred me to a private allergy clinic. This was in the days when GP surgeries could be fund-holding practices and were able to pay for private consultations. The clinic was attached to a local hospital at the time, although they separated later.
I was tested for loads of different foods and environmental substances. My trigger foods are mostly the staple carbohydrates; wheat, oats, maize, rice, potato, sugar, soya. I also avoid using anything on my skin that contains those ingredients, or anything derived from them.

 

[SEL]

Although exclusion diets are horrendous they can really help. My partner came up as allergic to so much he would have struggled to eat as a child but a bland diet did help and his diet is pretty normal now. He's still got some proper allergies - nuts - but flare ups are few & far between thankfully. We had a huge reduction in carbs & sugar when my type 1 diabetes was diagnosed and that also helped him.

Does she take antihistamines? When he had his last flare up his hands blistered badly and piriton seemed to help.