Below is a gallery of my eczema on July 10th.
As you can see, at this point I had a lot of eczema issues going on. I had atopic dermatitis all over my body that cropped up pretty quickly and I had lots of dyshidrosis blisters on my hands and feet. Thankfully the new allergy pill seemed to be kicking in, although the allergist did tell me it would take about a week to really feel an effect. I was able to get some sleep finally as well thanks to the allergy pills.
I started off the day by gently massaging the coconut oil all over my body, except my hands and feet of course. Then I covered my hands in Mupirocin and put on the white cotton dermatology gloves. I kept them on while I watched a movie and I noticed over those two hours that the antibiotic cream promoted drainage from the blisters; by the end of the movie I had several dark yellow/brown dry spots on the gloves corresponding to the locations of particularly bad blisters and blister clusters. The blisters I had on my hands weren’t open and I didn’t have any fissures or deep cracks, so while the drainage helped a bit, it wasn’t enough of an impact to justify continuing this particular treatment, so I did not repeat it. If I did have large open blister areas or cracks though, I would use the Mupirocin to prevent any chance of infection to aggravate my entire situation.
After the movie and a shower, I bandaged my injured foot and made sure to apply the Mupirocin only on the open blisters to promote healing and prevent infection and put the Halog cream on all other areas of dyshidrotic blisters. I also squeezed and drained (using the needle treatment mentioned in a previous post) some of the worse blisters and blister areas on my foot before bandaging.
Later in the day I had an itch attack where I just couldn’t stop scratching my legs. The itching was driving me absolutely insane, so I called my allergist again and asked if I could take Benadryl in addition to the allergy pills; they said yes so I popped those babies right away. I’m pretty sensitive to drugs, so I got drowsy pretty quickly but at least the itching stopped.
I kept trying coconut oil during the day, but found it to not be very helpful. In fact, the coconut oil may have aggravated things thanks to my stupid allergies to pollen and dust and many other things which I clearly haven’t identified yet. So I switched to applying the Banana Boat Aloe Vera After Sun lotion with Vitamin E.
Later in the day I did an Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) soak (50/50 ACV and water) and followed that with covering my hands in the zinc oxide ointment and putting on another pair of white cotton dermatology gloves; I wore those for about 15 minutes to allow my skin to absorb the oxide. It seemed to make a little bit of progress and a few blisters shrunk, not the big blister clusters though…
In the evening I tried out a new treatment which I have come to absolutely LOVE. Based on a recommendation from my Dad (thanks Dad!), I purchased and began using Simple Sugars to exfoliate and moisturize my hands in hopes of removing dried out skin without affecting my moisture levels. I purchased the Simple Sugars Coffee Body Scrub and let me tell you, this stuff is amazing! Created by a young girl in PA with extremely sensitive skin, Simple Sugars products are made with all natural ingredients, no artificial or synthetic ingredients, and come in three scrub strengths depending on which area of the body it’s intended to be used for–face, body, and feet. These sensitive skincare products come in a range of scents meant to provide aromatherapy while exfoliating and moisturizing. I got the coffee scent and every time I use it, it reminds me of a nice fresh cup of coffee. Ahh, what a way to start your day 🙂 After my first use I noticed a huge difference and my hands felt much better; instead of having to scratch and pick to get rid of irritating dried skin, the scrub took care of it and made my hands felt as soft as a baby bum afterwards! I HIGHLY recommend you check out Simple Sugars; here is their website: http://simplesugars.myshopify.com/.
So, that is the summary for the day’s eczema issues. And seriously, check out Simple Sugars, I LOVE it.
Allergies and Eczema and Sensitive Skin - Oh My! 