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.

Dyshidrotic Eczema Pictures

Based on my previous post about dyshidrotic eczema, also known as dyshidrosis, I thought it would be good to include some dyshidrotic eczema pictures for anyone that may be curious as to how it differs from the “garden-variety” eczema. Believe you me, neither condition is a “picnic”, but judging from the photos I have seen and collected from around the web, dyshidrosis is a mean mamma-jamma. Again, I have personally experienced the red bumps that can almost ache sometimes, and I have experienced the rash outbreaks that seem to literally spread like wildfire. Word to the wise—if it’s itching, do your best NOT to scratch it—it’s like throwing gasoline on a fire. I learned this the hard way. The only thing your mind is focused on during this time (usually) is how to stop the doggone itching, so you do the most natural thing, and that’s to scratch it, but let me tell you, all that will do is make other areas of your skin nearby all of a sudden start itching as well. Before you know it, areas that were perfectly fine are now being “inflamed”, and it’s literally a case where the more you scratch, the more you’ll find areas that need scratching. It’s truly a “Catch-22”, and it sucks to high heavens. But even then, I’m still only talking about the “regular” level of eczema (if there is such a thing). In terms of dyshidrotic eczema, there are so many cases that I found to be much worse than mine, in a weird way I feel grateful for having only experienced a still somewhat limited amount of the skin problem. At any rate, here are some pictures of the severity of dyshidrotic eczema:

Wow…notice the extreme peeling and cracking that come from dyshidrosis…this is truly some mean stuff. Some of those photos made me wince in pain just looking at them. It’s truly unfortunate that some people have had to go through this kind of skin condition…the worse part is that not too many experts have yet agreed upon the true origin of the problem. Again, I believe that one of the biggest areas to explore would be how stress such as anxiety, frustration, anguish, bitterness, etc. affects the physical body in such a serious manner. I have read many times over that people who internalized their stress can have more physical problems than people who “let it all out” and keep nothing held in. But, that’s a topic for possibly another post…I just wanted to post some of these photos so that you could match an image with a term…true indeed, these dyshidrotic eczema pictures are sobering and somewhat hard to look at, but it’s good to get a true picture of what some people are suffering through.

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.