10 year eczema sufferer - CURED?!

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benshouse99
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Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2021 7:57 pm
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by benshouse99 on Fri Jan 01, 2021 8:22 pm

10 year eczema sufferer - CURED?!

Hi all

I am new to this forum, and perhaps someone has already posted something similar to this message, so apologies if someone has had a similar experience and already shared!

Historically, I have had horrendous eczema every winter (live and work in London), and it usually disappears in the summer. I used to have bandages on my hands, and scratch / red marks all over face / arms / legs. Having it on the face would be particularly upsetting and I have even dabbled in make-up to cover it up (i am a guy to be clear haha!).

BUT this winter, bizarrely, my eczema has almost completely disappeared. I feel it's a miracle and I've been trying to rationalise why. I wanted to share my 2x most plausible explanations, in case these methods can help other fellow eczema sufferers (in the past, I only found strong topical steroid creams to work, which aren't ideal ofc due to thinning skin impact!):

Possible explanation 1: more sunlight!

- with most of main hobbies cancelled this year due to covid (squash, table tennis, eating out / cinema etc), I have gotten massively into golf.
- This year I've played golf throughout summer, AND winter, at least weekly (in the past, I would play golf but only a handful of times in summer when weather was good).
- Golf has forced me to spend at least 4 hours in the sun / semi sun (v cloudy often here) at least once a week. Historically, every winter I've barely ever gone outside in winter, for obvious reasons.
- Whenever I return from golf, my girlfriend always comments that my skin is 'glowing' and I have noticed it myself (even when it is cloudy / overcast, being outside at least in 'light' cloud seems to have an impact on my skin condition).

Possible explanation 2: no office aircon!

- again another key lifestyle change due to pandemic life. I have worked from home almost every day since March.
- I think it is possible that the office aircon was drying out my skin and at least exacerbating my eczema.
- note i put office aircon as a lower probability / importance explanation for my eczema improvement, as during the summer my eczema disappears, and if anything the aircon is more fierce in summer! but perhaps, the aircon wasn't helping and that sunlight + no aircon together have worked together to defeat my eczema?

Caveats:

- it's hard to really hone in on the exact reason, given so many life style changes since pandemic started, but i think the above 2 are the main 2.
- my eczema is not 100% cured. i am still feeling itchy on my face occasionally and i have scratched my wrist once or twice over the past 2 months (when its been <10 degs, when my exczema historically has been worst). BUT, comparing my symptoms to pre pandemic, it is 90% better i would say.
- small sample size: I'm only 1-2 months into 'winter' (<10 degrees), and that who knows maybe it gets worse in future / next year again, even with me playing golf / not being in office. but I know that historically, october / november / december have always been an absolute nightmare for me, my eczema never typically waits until jan to strike!


Anyway, hopefully my eczema remains at bay and that my above story can help others! I know eczema is such a b*stard and that everyone seems to have different conditions that drive it. If anyone else has had similar experience (more sunlight exposure -> better eczema), please tell me!

If anyone has any qus, please ask :)

thanks

Peter

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Marcie Mom
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by Marcie Mom on Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:47 am

Re: 10 year eczema sufferer - CURED?!

Thanks for the sharing and this is such good news!
And yes, not just for adults, even for young children, doctors usually recommend them to be outdoors, doing some exercise, fresh air. The main reason is that kids are mostly sensitive to dust mites which is pretty much an indoor irritant. And of course, not being sensitive to outdoor irritants like pollen helps and doing good skincare like wiping off sweat, sunscreen, freshen up etc after exercise outdoors helps. The skin may be looking good cos it's not dried out by the air-conditioning :)

Fingers crossed for you that the skin stays good!
Mei
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Mei - Founder of http://www.EczemaBlues.com and Mom to Marcie
Visit Mei on her talkhealth blog all about eczema http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/blog/author/mei_m/

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