adult eczema

DH has recently started getting flare ups of eczema on his hands. It's odd as he hasn't had since he was a kid... just wondering what's good to put on it to clear it up quickly and perhaps prevent it in the future as well?
TIA

Hi, I've had eczema since birth and managed to get it under control about 18 months ago (thank God) It was a huge challenge! For me the trigger was some foods and other chemicals in cleaning products etc. I went totally natural with cleaning/hair products etc and I got tested for food allergies from a lady who uses an Avatar machine... There are haps of people who do tests like that, basically it's a machine where you hold the handles in your hands and the computer tells you what foods you are allergic to. In the short term just use sorbolene cream , smother it on the area and wet a bandage than wring it out, cover the area in the wet bandage and then put a dry bandage over the top of it, wear during the night and in the morning apply more cream. You can also go to the pharmacy and get come QV bath oil to soak in 1st which really helps and you can start by using dermadrate shampoo and conditioner so that they are gentle on body skin... Oh and you can use the dermadrate shampoo as a body soap instead of regular soap. Hope that helps :)

Hi Guys,

We use a product from a company called Salcura, they are based in the UK but sell their products through a company called Sensi Skincare in Australia. My son suffers from eczema and my husband from psoriasis and they use the Zeoderm cream and Intensive spray, they also sell shampoos etc and all the products are natural and work very very well. I think they offer free samples through their website. Hope this helps.

Nina.

I've just ordered a wheatgrass cream for another issue, but there were lots of testimonials on the website about it's effectiveness for eczema and psoriasis

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 :wall:

... 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.

HTH

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.