I have had eczema twice... once in 1997 and at the moment! Same place: in the crease of my nose on the left side of my face. It's just a small patch, about the size of a 5c piece. Last time I had it a doctor prescribed some hydrocortisone cream which worked fast but I'm a bit scared of steriods! I might try the sorbelene...
For me it seems as if extreme stress is the trigger. Back in 1997 I was starting a new job (after being a SAHM for 4 years) and it was turning out to be quite a toxic office environment... and Melbourne was in the middle of the gas crisis and no one was allowed to use their hot water systems so i couldn't shower!!! This episode started when my 6yo was in hospital recently with pneumonia and now our 15yo seems to be in deep strife
... it is improving but am still going to be following this thread.
I got excema for the first time in January 2009. It was before I started my Aged Care course, before working in Aged Care... Drs put it down to - working in an environment where I was washing my hands too much... Um, were you listening!?
It's only on my left hand, on the inside of my pinky, both sides of my ring finger and occasionaly on my middle finger.
I have absolutely no idea what causes it, whether it's a food, allergen, environment etc, but I use Elocon cream when it's bad, supposed to use it just as its starting but I never do. Dr also told me to go to Crazy Clarks and get some papillion cream and use that when there's no flare up.
The main thing with eczema is to moisturise moisturise moisturise - with something non-perfumed. Also good to keep some moisture in the air - we used to put a bowl of water near the air intake for the central heating before our baby came. Humidifiers are excellent (although can make it a bit too wet) and oil burners (to a much lesser extent) can also help with this.
My DH has had it all his life, and has always had to be careful with his skin. He moisturises morning and night, moisturises his hands after washing, and cannot use any soap products as they are drying. He uses Alpha Keri wash and Dermaveen moisturisers. If he has a bad outbreak he uses Elocon, and if he has a REALLY bad outbreak he uses another cream that is really strong (but really not good to use over extended periods as it thins the skin and strips it of pigment). The treatment creams you will need a prescription for, the moisturiser and wash you can just get through a pharmacy. We buy ours online for a lot cheaper than you can get it in store.
My 19 month old inherited her daddy's eczema, so we have to really look after her skin or she gets really dry and patchy. We use a weaker cream called Dermaid (available over the counter) for her outbreaks, alpha keri oil in her bath and then the same dermaveen cream morning and night (and at each nappy change), so her skin is *usually* pretty perfect. She flares up around her knees and elbows during hot weather.
Hopefully it won't be something that your DH gets too often, but if it does tend to come back then prevention is definitely better than cure. Best prevention is moisturising. Morning and night if you can get him to do it.
There's a lot of things that can bring it on. Food, soap, weather, touching against dry things (ie, paper, chalk dust, sawdust, etc), the list goes on. It's different for different people.
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