Eczema - URGENT

[AR2015]

Hi All.

Can you help please, I have eczema on my hands only and I always get and opening on my hands or several openings, I need this to stop. Can you recommend any creams to thicken the skins on my hands. its really demotivating and I don't like it when people sit by me and I avoid sitting around people in work because of my eczema.

Also, I come across a product called Honey & Bee Propolis Balm, would this be any good

[whatadowner]

Hi try double base gel

[funkyfran]

Dear Geoff, can you let me know the name of the clinic please? My husband has suffered for years. Thank you, Fran

[lizmaxwell]

Despite its bad press the best treatment for eczema is homoepathic. You could try homeopathic sulphur from Boots. Disregard what it says on the container start by taking a dose every 2 hours for a couple of days. Do not eat or drink anything for 15 mins before or after the remedy as it is absorbed through the mouth. If it starts to improve start to lengthen the times between doses. If the sulphur is helping your eczema may actually get worse for a very short while. This is because the remedy is clearing stuff out of your body that may be causing the eczema. If the sulphur does not work you need something more specific to you. For that you need to see a professional homoepath. Contact The Society of Homoepaths for a qualified and registered practioner near you.

Could you be allergic to something that your hands are coming into contact with on a regular basis such as washing up liquid ?

Eczema can also be caused by stress.....are there things going on in your life that could be causing that. If that is the case try taking a herbal preparation of Valerian as that is good at helping you to relax.

If you go to your G.P.about this you would probably be prescribed a steroid cream like Betnovate. Although this may help in the short term it actually causes thinning of the skin with long term use.

A quick first aid reliever if your hands become very itchy sometimes cooling the skin down is the best way to relieve this. Cold compresses on your wrists, at the back where you can see the veins, can help or if desperate keep a designated bag of peas in your freezer to stick your hands into. Bit extreme i know but i had eczema on my ankle and putting the peas on it was the only thing that brought relief sometimes. Oh yes and don't forget good old Calomine lotion which is both cooling and antiseptic, dap it all over your hands at night to give you some relief when you are sleeping.

Keep your hands well moistured at all times, especially if you have the dry type of eczema use something like E45 cream for itchy skin.

Good luck wth all of that, you may need to try and give you a cure.

[AR2015]

Hi All.

Thank you for your replies. My skin is really dry and I do get cuts. I come across a product called Honey & Bee Propolis Balm, would this be any good? I also want my skin to thicken?

I have also bought hand gripper to gain an increase in muscle in my hands which should stretch the skin to lose the appearance of eczema.

I also wanted Ultra Violet light therapy but the doctor would not put me forward for it, is there anything I can buy?

There seems to be a lot of foods to avoid.

Some of the products that my doctors prescribe are pretty much rubbish, Diprobase just moistens and slowly heals. And they gave me a Galaxo Smith ointment and that's not all that good. There was a Galaxo Smith cream which seems to have been discontinued, and this cream is shockingly amazing, for example if I apply the cream to my hand, the next day the cut would be healed whereas Diprobase, that Ointment and many other creams prescribed and bought are not like the Galaxo Smith cream, I have also tried Aveeno, and I didn't see any results. The Galaxo Smith cream is on Ebay, is it legal to by the cream from Ebay?

I would do anything to get rid of my eczema.

Thank you.

[AR2015]

Would you be able to give me a long list of foods to avoid and whats best to eat

[johnsmith]

There are many replies of the different things people have tried. As you have noticed you need to experiment and see what works for you. Eczema is a diagnosis made when you exhibit certain types of symptom. However, the cause for the symptoms can be very varied. Hence the need for the experimentation.

I have found that mild bleach helps with reducing itching. You have to dilute bleach with water to see if this works.

Evening Primrose oil I have found is good. I have found that it needs about a month before it works effectively. I suspect that it is used as a component of the oil that skin needs to produce in order to have good skin.

Emulsifying creams can be useful to moistion the skin, however they are a good medium for bacteria to grow in. So the Emulsifying cream can lead to itching a period of time after application.

Certain types of anxiety can lead to the small muscles in the skin tightening up leading to itching. So it is worth noting if this happens in your case.

Diet, has an influence on the components of perspiration. So a look at the diet to remove things that provide good itching type bacteria growth in perspiration. That is useful to look at.

Cotton gloves can reduce moisture loss from the skin so the skin does not crack up as much.

AS I said it is a matter of trying various things and see if they work for you.

Beware of the intoluence fad. The skin needs certain nutrients to function well. If you exclude these nutrients from the diet because of intoluence or suspected intoluence issues then you will get skin problems.

Yoghurt is useful if you cannot digest milk products, if you lack certain milk digesting enzymes.

Hope this has been helpful.

[Hidden]

When I got eczema on my hands and feet, also got cracked feet which was really painful and seemed to be made worse when I was having more fatty foods, I tried to eat healthily and used olive oil and lemons (lemons are antibiotic) all helped. Also I tried to drink a spoonful of cider vinegar in a cup of hot water and hot milk/honey and a spoonful of bicarbonate soda in cold water helps to flush out all toxins from our water system because they do say this has been getting worse which could be why more and more people are getting allergies.

I also bathed my feet every day and put cotton socks on and plastic gloves for my hands as this absorbs creams better, I even put sudocrem and savlon on, I didn't buy all the expensive thick creams, tried to be as natural as possible as I also rubbed avocados/lemon into my feet and left to soak in for a while wrapping hands or feet in clingfilm or plastic then washed them and then soaked them in olive oil or antiseptic creams. Drinking more water also helped me and taking vitamin c to increase my immune system too. Hope you find what is right for you and it clears up soon

[lovesradio]

Oh my goodness we try all sorts of things don't we, and it's not really a case of 'getting rid' of eczema, more a case of finding the best way to manage it's various manifestations of itches, cracks, hacks, pompholyx, dry, weepy etc etc. Interested in the homeopathic idea as I have used homeopathy for other conditions. I leave out a fair bit of dairy and use soya products instead, use Doublebase bath emollient, Dermol 300 soap substitute and Doublebase gel as a general mosituriser, with occasional corticosteroid for as short a time as possible. At one point my hands were awful until I stopped using Persil Non-Bio, and used 'wash balls' for a while. Then moved to Fairy Non-Bio, use extra rinse facility on washing machine though suspect some lingering residue may cause patches appearing round 'pants line'. Generally find it less irritating than the Persil. I don't use any fabric condioner at all, or perfumed air freshener things etc. I have tried bee propolis cream and find it a useful general handcream and it definitely softens the skin.

[Macfast]

Hi, sorry to hear your plight. There are lots of various creams etc and treatments but the one that works best for me is use emulsifying ointment, which you can get from any chemist. During the day, apply a generous amount over your hands then wear some non-latex type gloves that you can get from most stores or chemist. Do the same at night but use cotton gloves. If it gets really bad, i use dermovate very sparingly then use the above method. The trick is to keep your skin moist. When it dries out, it then gets itchy and hacks.

Nothing to lose. It may work for you, it may not

[gperks]

I've suffered eczema on my hands for most of my adult life. Changing my diet doesn't appear to resolve the issue, but I have noticed that it only occurs when I smoke. Every time I quit smoking - my skin improves. But anyway, when my hands do flare up with eczema (pompholyx in my case) a small amount of eumovate clears it right up. I've tried prescription steroid creams which have worked in the past, and I've tried herbal remedies (which most definitely have not worked), but eumovate is over the counter and definitely works for me. Hope this might help other people. nhs.uk/conditions/eczema-(c...

[Hidden]

I've had problems with my skin for decades which I think were primarily caused by dry skin. One GP diagnosed rosacea while another gave me antibiotics for the pustules that erupted on the end of my nose. Some just shrugged their shoulders. Nothing really worked. Since I've been rubbing E45 cream into my face the problems have gone - miraculous improvement in a matter of days. I've made no other changes to my lifestyle, so it must be the E45. Now I have no signs of red blotches on my face, no erupting pustules, no spots - nothing - clear skin.

Give it a try - it costs nothing and may work for you.