Skin Eczema

Any discussion about skin eczema automatically catches my attention, having had first-hand experience with this skin problem. Eczema can definitely be an unruly beast at times. I know that in my personal experience, it would seem to be under control at times and not even visually discernible, but then on the wrong day, or with the wrong stressful situations in life’s background, all of a sudden those old red patches would show up again. I would most frequently get outbreaks right around the waistline, surrounding the belly button, and on the inner thighs. I also had a ravaging case of it on the back of my thighs, part of which spread all the way down to behind my knee and the top of my calf, but only on the right leg. How freakin’ weird is that??? One of the main things I remember was how sometimes the itching would come upon me so suddenly and so sharp that it literally felt like it took my breath. I know that may sound kind of strange, but I’m just telling you what my personal experience has been. Sometimes I would find myself daydreaming and just scratching away at those areas on my skin, and it was almost like a strange form of “relaxation”—it would give me time to think, albeit most of the time my thoughts were worries about whatever stressful situation I was dealing with on my job or what have you. I have heard that a lot of times eczema outbreaks can be linked to severe stress or life-altering circumstances, such as moving to a new state, getting married, having a child, or other major life events. Any type of new or “unfamiliar territory” can be grounds for an outbreak for people who have been prone to this skin condition in the past; well, it was for me at least. Sometimes the red bumps on the skin would feel like they were on fire; I would scratch them to the point of just having raw skin there…not a good thing at all, especially when you’re in the shower and the soap hits those spots. Those areas would frequently end up scabbing over, and by that time I would finally leave them alone long enough to heal up, and then the itching and scratching cycle would start again. It’s like I would lay off the scratching when I had done enough “damage”, but then get right back into it once it healed up. It became somewhat of a habitual cycle…go figure.

Eczema is officially classified as a skin “disease” although in my mind that seems to be a little bit of a misnomer, because it’s not contagious, nor can anyone “catch” it by coming into contact with your skin. I know that’s probably a narrow-minded set of criteria to say that the word “disease” is a misnomer for eczema, but in my mind it just works that way…again, go figure. You know how it is…a lot of times you go through life with your own made-up definitions or your own interpretations of what a word means, but you’ve never taken the time to actually look it up for yourself and find out the “real deal”. I decided to start doing some actual research online regarding eczema, and I’m telling you, after seeing some of the pictures of what eczema looks like, and some of the more severe cases that are out there, I don’t feel as bad about it at all. I have shown some of those pictures I found in previous posts; they are quite disconcerting to a viewer who may have never seen or known how far-reaching the effects of eczema can be. The skin rashes, the itchy skin, and the other symptoms of eczema are definitely no picnic, as I can personally attest to. On the technical side, eczema is also known as dermatitis, which is basically any type of inflammation of the epidermis, also known as the outermost layer of skin. In more severe cases, the skin can start bleeding, oozing and cracking, but in the milder cases (like that of my own—for the most part anyway), the skin just basically turns red, gets a little tougher to the touch, and develops small raised bumps that basically look like a rash of a sort. The jury is still out as to the actual causes of eczema, but I can personally attest to the fact that I believe stress has a whale of a lot to do with it. I will be going into some more details about the possible causes of skin eczema, but this post here has gotten WAY too long. Will resume later.

Eczema Products

All this talk about eczema I’ve been doing this month has led me to look into some eczema products, or basically any kind of creams, lotions, medications, injections, alcoholic beverages (just kidding), whatever I can find that can possibly bring relief to this condition, or even at least seem to have potential of bringing relief for this troubling skin problem. One thing that has in the past made me hesitant to try and seek out any information on products that could cure or treat eczema is the common issue of side effects from synthetic chemicals and so forth, but the truth of the matter is when you’re seeking relief from such a harassing problem, you just want the solution as fast as possible. I can see why it can be frustrating; I myself experienced eczema skin problems, but was hesitant to get any kind of medication for it, because honestly, maybe it’s the conspiracy theorist in me or something, but I didn’t really trust the whole medicine market; it just seems like all they ever do is put a “band-aid” on problems, and basically treat symptoms without ever getting to the core or root cause of the issue. I guess they would go out of business if they completely cured people’s skin problems, so maybe there is a slight ulterior motive for them not being able to come up with enough “research” to find an absolute cure for eczema, psoriasis, and other skin problems like that. Anyway, as you can tell, I have those conspiracy theorist leanings that I really have to overcome (LOL). But as far as my personal experience with eczema goes and potential eczema treatments, I just tried to stay VERY hydrated, and focused on things that would produce skin health such as drinking lots of water every day and eating foods that are known for their contributions to skin health such as oatmeal. Also, I would make sure to take vitamins that promote overall skin healthiness such as Vitamin E and so forth. One of the main things I would do is to simply put a regular lotion on the affected areas, just to relieve some of the dryness. It didn’t really help at all as far as the itching goes, but it did at least keep the skin from getting too flaky. It would burn like crap when the sores were open, but the skin around them was so dry that I had to sacrifice and endure some pain for the greater good, so to speak.

Some of you may be wondering why I keep speaking about my own struggle with eczema in the past tense, as if I no longer deal with it. I can honestly say that I hardly deal with it at all nowadays, and it’s nowhere near the degree of severity it used to be. I want to talk about that in a future post, as far as my own journey with overcoming eczema and learning a little bit (and I do mean a LITTLE bit) about the things that were triggering it in my own life. I have a theory, and I don’t fully know if it’s true or not, but I have a theory or a sneaking suspicion that sleep deprivation can play a role in these types of skin disorders. Please don’t ask me to substantiate that with any kind of medical information, because truth be told, “I gots nothin’”, but one thing I can attest to is that the more sleep I got, the less I had to deal with eczema. Go figure…again, please don’t ask me for the full science behind this…it’s just something that I know, if you know what I mean. But anyway, back to the issue of finding eczema products, or any kind of cream or lotion or what have you that can possibly alleviate some of the major symptoms of eczema, especially the itching…which, by the way, is why I feel so sorry for babies and toddlers with eczema…they will simply scratch until they scratch the skin off. Okay, before I drift off again, let me say that there are several manufacturers of skin creams for eczema and so forth, and while I don’t have any personal experience with using any of the products, I can say that they are some of the foremost players and advertisers in the market right now. Products such as the Theraplex Emollient, the FreeDerm cream, Cetaphil, or the skin products offered by Dr. Li are all worth looking into. I don’t claim to be any kind of “consumer advocate” so I’m not going to be reviewing the products per se, but did want to expose everyone out there to some of the eczema products that are available on the market. Okay, over and out until next time.

What Does Eczema Look Like?

A common question that many people ask who suspect that they might have eczema is “What does eczema look like?”. Eczema can take on many different forms, and show up on many different parts of the body. There really isn’t one specific locale for this skin problem; it can appear on hands, feet, faces, fingers, thighs, backs, practically any area of the body where there’s skin there can also be eczema. Exact causes of eczema are still speculative, as some people believe it is due to external factors such as possible food allergies, skin irritants such as certain types of detergents, or environmental conditions (climate changes or harsh, dry weather, etc.), while others believe it is due to solely internal factors such as stress, or a malfunction in the nervous system and the way that it perceives and responds to environmental threats such as allergens and so forth. Also known as dermatitis, eczema is basically a skin disorder that causes inflammation of the epidermis (a.k.a. the outermost layer of the skin), and appears on the skin as a rash with dryness and/or raised bumps that are painful and sensitive to the touch. When I was dealing very heavily with eczema, mine mainly showed up on my inner thighs, hips, and stomach below the belly button. One time when the rashes got really intense, they literally extended from the bottom of my butt cheek (sorry for being so graphic) all the way down the back of my thigh, and to the top of my calf muscle. That completely sucked. I have never dealt with eczema above the waist level, but I have seen other people with hand and face eczema. As an example, one of my good friend’s sons (about 3 years old) had a pretty bad case of eczema on his face; his cheeks were completely “eaten up” with harsh rashes that looked dark red and patchy. I truly felt sorry for him; thankfully, as he grew older, the eczema cleared up. I learned later that eczema is actually not that uncommon in babies and toddlers, as their brand new skin is still adjusting to this brand new environment outside of the womb. At any rate, here are some photos to give you a good picture of what eczema looks like:























So there you have it—a visual representation of what eczema looks like. I feel sorry for every single person in these photos, because I have experienced first-hand the pain, the skin rashes, and the aggravation of having sensitive skin due to eczema. One thing that I found to be quite odd is how sometimes the areas of the skin that have been affected by eczema seem to lose their “suppleness” and begin to take on an almost leather-like feel. I have dealt with this before, and still have traces of it a little bit on my inner thighs and hips. Sometimes when the weather is extremely dry or cold outside, those same areas can get really dry and start flaking, almost like dandruff. I know all of this sounds gross, and part of me is embarrassed about putting myself out there like that for all to read, but at this point, I don’t give a crap. I hope that some of what I’ve learned and come to experience as far as my being able to (for the most part) whip eczema could be an encouragement to others who may be struggling with this same skin problem. But long story short, in answer to the question “what does eczema look like”, I hope this post has been helpful.

Eczema

Let me be the first to say that eczema SUCKS. For a long time I didn’t even know that I had the condition, because I had never had it as a child. The symptoms of what I later found out was eczema started appearing on my body when I was about 27 years old, working a job that was extremely stressful. Mind you, I had never had the condition before in my life. I had a boss that was very, very hard to work for. He was the kind that would go off about the least little thing, and then cuss you out for the smallest thing. It was a VERY rough and stressful time, to say the least. That’s when I first started noticing rashes breaking out on my inner thighs and my stomach. I thought initially that maybe it was the type of laundry detergent I was using, because I had just switched to a different detergent. But then over time I started realizing that that wasn’t it. Then I thought it was maybe the soy-based products I was eating, because I had recently given up meat and moved to soy-based “veggie burgers” and so forth. I thought maybe I was having an allergic reaction to these things. But then I started noticing that the “flare-ups” would primarily happen during very stressful situations on the job. The affected areas would be red all over, with raised red bumps very close together, almost like when you get goose bumps. After a while, my skin in those areas changed its very look and feel; it turned into more of a “leathery” feeling surface, which was really weird to me. The itching would be so bad that sometimes I literally felt like it was taking my breath away (don’t know if anyone else has ever had to deal with that, but I did). When I would start scratching it, man, that was the worst thing I could have done, because it would just keep itching and itching some more, almost like throwing wood on a fire—it’s never fully satisfied. And of course, the scratching would lead to white flakes on the skin, almost like “skin dandruff”, and it would just make me want to scratch more. It was freakin’ horrible.

For whatever reason I didn’t think to look into any eczema treatments; I think mainly because I was in denial of a sort. I had never had any type of allergies or any skin conditions (besides the usual teenage acne), so this whole eczema thing knocked me for a loop. I’ll explain more of my testimony in some later blogs…I just wanted to start writing this to help bring “closure” to the whole eczema situation…I guess.