Yes, I’ve done the Google thing. Read all about it. I’d kinda like to talk to some people here about it.
I work in the service industry, use my hands alot before the public. I need to find a new job. My hands are looking pretty leprotic.
What’s your experience with it? How’d you deal with it? Any favorite home remedies?
If your hands are looking “leporotic” you should see a doctor, not just Google.
Seriously - either a dermatologist or an allergist. If it’s just your hands you might have an allergy to a particular soap or soap ingredient - in which case this is entirely curable by finding out what’s causing the problem and avoiding it in the future.
Recently, some new medications came on the market. Not that the old ones are all bad.
I’ve had it off and on all my life. In my case it comes and goes. And because talking about it makes me itch I’ll stop now
… scratch…scratch…scratch…
I have a buddy, who collects the dead skin from his eczema in a plastic case.
Everytime I look at it, I get a craving for Corn Flakes.
You ever thought of trying to get a job as one of those people who serve samples in the supermarkets…I’m sure with your condition it could help
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My eczema was pretty severe when I was a young’n. Now it’s just patchy and only breaks out occasionally - particularly when the weather is very cold and dry.
How did it get better? Dermatologist. With the first prescription it started clearing up fast.
You can also check with your regular doc - the prescription I have now I got through the university health center. I went there first because it’s free for me as a student - then it was only about $15 for the prescription.
Try to see if there’s anything you just use on your hands that could be triggering it - then eliminate that from use.
This winter, I’ve also found that occasional, very minor breakouts on my respond well to Curel moisturizer. YMMV and IANAD, btw.
How old are you? I had terrible eczema as a child, but it completely disappeared in my teens.
(Post-eczema, I’m left with a small patch of pale skin on the inside of each of my ankles. It’s scar tissue from scratching my skin off. :eek: )
Oh, fresh aloe vera from garden had a nice soothing effect when the itching was bad.
If it’s only on your hands, it’s probably contact dermatitis - which is medspeak for eczema caused by an allergy to something you touch. If you can find out what you’re allergic to and avoid it, you can “cure” it. I myself am allergic to lanolin - if I avoid it, I have ordinary dry skin, which is easy to deal with.
The flodkids have atopic eczema, which is a b*tch by comparison. Fortunately flodjunior has mostly outgrown it (it flares up when he has hay fever or comes in contact with specific allergens), and we have good hope totnak will, too, with time.
Home remedies be damned - talk to a doctor. Your GP might be able to help; if not, s/he will give you a referral to a dermo or an allergist. Cortisone salves as part of a managed routine are not dangerous and are just short of miraculous. Meantime, keep an eye on what products you use on your hands and see if there are any potential allergens lurking there. We stick to hand soaps and lotions with no dyes, no perfumes, and no lanolin. It helps!
I also have atopic, and it’s definitely not as bad as it was when I was a kid. The last really bad outbreak I had was 12 or 15 years ago, leaving a souvenir of a melaninless spot under the buckle of my watch.
One reason it’s not as big a problem now is that they okayed 1% cortisone for over-the-counter – as flodnak says, it’s miraculous stuff. I stock up on half a dozen tubes when it’s on sale, and whenever I start getting those teeny little water blisters between my fingers that signal an upcoming outbreak, I beat it back with that stuff.
If you’re in a position financially to see a doctor, definitely do so – he or she should be able to provide some useful info on general dos and don’ts. It does sound like there’s some kind of allergic reaction going on with you, probably exacerbated by dry skin (I assume you have that as well?). For my hands, I gave up on Neutrogena superstrength (after 25 years of loyal use) when they went to the smaller-tube-for-same-price, an unforgiveable sin in my book, and now just use the creamy petroleum jelly, which does leave your hands a little ooky for five minutes, but is otherwise great stuff.
I had it awful one summer… didn’t know what it was (thought it was heat rash) then I discovered the wonder of hydrocortisone. That cleared me all up and keeps the outbreaks at bay! Except I hadn’t had one in a few years and now it is back … gotta go get more cream.
I do agree if it is staying local (on your hands) you may have an allergy. mine spread from behind my knees and inside my elbows all the way up and down both arms and legs and I really did look like a leper.
Good Luck
Since you’re in the service industry that means you’re probably washing your hands an awful lot. If there’s something that I think may aggravate it, I use gloves when possible, and if I can’t avoid getting my hands wet several times a day, I use Vaseline intensive care’s water resisitant lotion. It works really well and is one of the few creams that doesn’t make my eczema worse.
In the last two years I’ve experienced some eczema and psoriasis breakouts, mostly due to the winter and at my sister’s, a change to well water (where I had rosacea on my cheeks and eczema or something on my eyelids. It was hideous.). It’s concentrated mainly on my shoulders, two nickel-sized patches on my calves, and on my right pinkie and ring finger (this has all but cleared up).
My father (a doctor) has the same skin issues and recommended a multi-point remedy including:
-lowering the temperature of my showers and face-washings to lukewarm.
-patting my skin dry instead of abrading it with a towel.
-using a really mellow soap like Dove, with no added fragrance.
-slathering myself in Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion after showering and before bed (I prefer the lotion with the green top and not the blue). Aveeno’s expensive, but Walgreens now makes a generic brand for about half the cost.
-controlling symptoms with over-the-counter 1% hydrocortisone cream; Aveeno now makes one I enjoy.
I have fought my hand eczema for the last year. I went to 12 doctors before one finally referred me to a dermatologist. She told me " You washed your hands too much with a soap you are allergic to, now it’s going to be hell getting rid of it." She was right, it was hell. I’ve had to wear gloves every time I came near water because water can make my hands break out again, I have to lotion my hands constantly and I can’t even touch anything with citrus in it. After 6 months of this my hands are finally looking better. I’ve lost so much skin from my fingers and hands that people ask me if I was burned at one time. I still have a few bumps but when they really start to itch I used the prescribed steroid cream my doctor gave me and it usually doesn’t break out like it used to.
So, go out and buy some vinyl gloves, wear them anytime you are around water, even in the shower. Buy some cetaphil lotion, at night put in on thickly then put on a pair of dry white cotton gloves. Pretty soon you’ll see a difference in your hands. Good luck.
I’ve got a home remedy for you. IANAD and YMMV.
I had eczema as a baby. Then I had no problems at all until I was first married and living in an apartment with no dishwasher, when I got this rash all over my hands (nowhere else). Since I had no medical insurance at the time, I dealt with it the best I could–switching detergents, rubber gloves, lotions, hydrocortizone, but the problem would still come and go.
Then, I saw something on TV about Nivea Skin Firming Lotion. It’s supposed to firm up your skin and make your body look more toned. I must have been feeling untoned at the time, so I decided to try it. Well, the most dramatic difference I found was in the skin on my hands! Finally, the skin on my hands was really starting to heal and look normal again! Once the skin really healed, I was much less succeptable to breakouts. I haven’t had any problems for several years (knock on wood–it really helps that I have a dishwasher now, too.)
Slow down there. Just because it worked for you doesn’t mean levdrakon suffers exactly the same affliction. It may be useful advice, but what levdrakon should do is see a dermatologist.
Silly me, of course you are right.
That threw me. I thought the OP was asking for help not asking what doctor to see. :rolleyes:
I beleive this lotion contains Q10 which is, according to the Gospel of Google:Co Q10 helps produce energy at the cellular level to nutritionally support the body’s most active muscle, the heart. While Co Q10 is naturally produced by the body, its level declines with age. (There was a shit load of stuff, but this seemed the least paranoid.)
There’s a GQ thread on the subject. Thought I’d link the two. Aceospades might need your advice.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=164406