Pompholyx Eczema now MRSA !!

[scottie13]

Hi everyone,
I posted on here a while ago and explained that I had Pompholyx eczema on both hands & feet & was sent to a Dermatologist last September. I have had all the usual treatments, steroid creams, prednisolone steroid tabs many times, and was even given Toctino in December but I had an allergic reaction to them & had to stop taking them after a week. I was then seeing my specialist every two weeks as my hands were so swollen, cracked & red, it looked like a red crayon had been drawn on my wrists where my normal skin started. The original pompholyx had gone & I said to my specialist many times, this isn't my normal rash, what's happening and was told it's chronic eczema! Nothing seemed to work including Puva treatment, so I was put back on Prednisilone time after time.

Then in January I had a funny swelling on my index finger, went to GP & as I had a trace line up my arm I was sent to the hospital for a scan in case it had caused a DVT, thankfully it hadn't but I had a blood infection from the finger, no one told me what it was & was given tabs & Bactroban cream. It eventually went but my hands were even worse, looked like scalded skin all over. On the 12 April I was at the skin clinic & was swabbed on my right hand for any infection, the results showed positive for MRSA, I was absolutely shocked, but told that it's not uncommon with eczema.....I was given Doxycycline tabs, Bactroban nasal ointment & Oilatum plus for 5 days, then tested again, but still positive, so have just finished second stage treatment as above & my hands have returned to normal, no swelling, cuts or red skin, I'm amazed and now believe that I have had MRSA since January, especially after reading about the symptoms of MRSA on this site. My immune system has been compromised through being on the steroid tabs so often, which I believe has led me to catch the infection in the first place.

I have been swabbed again & await the GP's call to see if I'm now clear, which looking at my hands, I must be or a miracle has happened!!! I am so very angry that I have been through so much treatments and all the suffering, when a simple hand swab taken months ago would have shown it was MRSA not Eczema and the correct treatment would have been given to me.
So please ask your GP or Dermatologist to swab you for infection if your condition is not improving & your hands resemble mine, swollen, cracked and looks like you've dipped your hands in boiling water!!

Sorry for such a long entry, but if this helps just one person to get the right treatment for an infection then I will be happy. I strongly believe that it should be standard practice when sent to the skin clinic that a swab should be taken to at least rule out any type of infection.
Will keep you all posted on my results,

Scottie13 in Scarborough.

[Marcie Mom]

Thanks for your sharing, and good to hear at last there's some resolution!

Take care,
Mei