Help please! TRIGGER WARNING-PHOTO ATTACHED

@eczemahelp That looks so so sore.
My friend had terrible eczema on her hands- She actually wept once as it was so sore and itchy.
I went to an all night pharmacy for steroid cream.
Friends was /is stress related.
I get it mildly- occasionally. itchy as heck.
I hope yours gets better eventually.

Have you tried Aloe Vera - buy a plant from the garden stores. Break and apply the liquid from the leaves (store unused leaf in the fridge) works wonders.

You can buy ready made creams etc from holland and barret - soaps shampoo suncream - it really does work.

Sadly the MLM have ruined Aloe Vera!

Fellow sufferer here. Emollient (cetreben) on so frequently it never gets a chance to dry out and cutting out citrus and dairy (and being REALLY strict about it, not even using soaps, gels etc with either in) really made a difference.

Good luck, that looks really sore, you have my sympathies

Hi OP.

I had Eczema/dermatitis just like that on my hands like that for 3 years - really severe. I had the lot, went to see all sorts of doctors and it made no difference at all. Creams of all types just made it worse. The steroid cream and pills thinned my skin eventually. It was a very hard living with it. I had to wear gloves at work. Diet changes made no difference.
An old friend (who was a doctor) noticed it and said, half seriously, that I should go abroad and spend a week in the sun and go in the sea as much as possible (never a pool - no chlorine).

I was so desperate that's what I did, and it healed after a week and it never came back. Salt water and sun. I used to be a member of a group and other people found it helped them. I hope you are in a position to do some swimming in the sea somewhere (or just wallow in it) - Then get out of the water with the salt drying on your skin then let the sunlight at it for a bit. Sunlight and salt water and fresh air can be magical.

Mix your steroid cream with Vaseline and apply a decent layer underneath cheap plastic gloves, then cotton gloves over the top to keep them on/prevent rustling. Do this overnight for one or two nights. The plastic makes your hands sweat a little but occluding the cream massively helps your skin absorb it. It makes a big difference to kickstart the healing process when my hands flare like yours. Wear cotton gloves with any cream whenever you can during the day too.

I would also go back to the GP and ask for Protopic instead of steroids. It works differently and can be very effective.

I react to salicylates in products if I use them on my face or hands. They are in lots of things like shampoo, shower gel, moisturisers, sun cream. Could be worth avoiding them for a bit. I hope you find something that helps.

Allergy testing showed that I am also allergic to specific chemicals in most laundry detergents. So, even while I wasn't actively putting anything on my skin, I was still exposing it to irritants.

Do you live in a hard water area? I do, and the difference is stunning when I go somewhere with soft water. We've installed a water softener - not as good as naturally soft water, but much better than hard water.

Phototherapy?

Pure Dead Sea salts? When I was at the Dead Sea I had a reaction to something (probably the hotel bedding) and my skin healed faster than ever before or since. I barely used the steroid cream.

Rubber washing up gloves? I always use them, but before I discovered my triggers I found that some makes caused my hands to flare, but others were fine. I don't think that I was allergic to the gloves, but that some things cause problems when your skin is always irritated.

Oh, and to avoid bloody hand dryers in loos, carry some sheets of kitchen roll so that you're not at their mercy!

Have you tried Balmonds Skin Salvation? I got mine in Holland and Barrett but you can order online. It’s like magic, google the reviews

Sorry I meant Charcoal and Oat cream from Zoe Bee Beauty. The green cream is for scars.

Oh dear, that does look sore. Have you tried 'Skin food' by Weleda? It's the only thing that sorts my hands out when they get bad. 100% recommend. Also try using natural soap bars instead of hand wash as it often makes it worse.

My skin was similar to yours, giving up alcohol, caffeine and dairy helped. Also, using the absolute minimum of creams - applying it as lightly as you can manage, not easy as your hands stiffen.
The steroids thin the skin, so it will split more easily. Cotton gloves overnight rather than the plastic ones that one doctor suggested, which gave me the equivalent of trenchfoot on my hands. If you are able to sleep on your back and don't move around much in bed, lay your moisturised hands on a towel.
If you are using a number of different products, try putting different creams on each hand and see which one works best for you - as others have pointed out, where you are in your cycle, stress and other variables can all change the symptoms, we all dry out a bit in the cold weather.
I still get flare-ups from time to time, but it causes less anxiety the mildest Dove soap and non-bio laundry products help and I generally get by with Child's Farm. If you use hand sanitiser, try to find 75% (hospital grade) as it doesn't leave a residue.
Good luck, it will get better.

There are various emulsifiers in the sensitive/eczema creams that I react to so can't use most of the usual magic creams, so perhaps you are having something similar happen?

I've had some success with salt water bathing - I put 1 cup table salt in a warm (not hot) bath, use no other washes, moisturisers or additives, and soak for 15 mins. Not longer as it dries out the skin.

Then for a moisturiser a very plain gentle oil put on sparingly when skin is still damp, eg almond or jojoba or whatever other oil you aren't allergic to.

Stress is a major contributor to my flare ups. So if you're stressed you might find that destressing activities can help a bit - this sounds a bit woo maybe but I'm pretty convinced that daily guided relaxation/meditation helps me, and walking.

Ask your g.p or dermatologist for Fludroxycortide tape. It is expensive so they don't always prescribe it. But as its a tape, it protects your hands while also treating. It really helps when my psoriasis or excema flares up. Also ask about light treatment, puva or puvb. It will be at hospital but it really settled my bad flares having it. Good luck, I know how painful hand flares can be.

Lyonsleaf products all the way

The only thing that cleared mine up was sunbed use. Not recommended in the slightest by me. My Dr saw how sore mine was and said if I didn’t have a sunny holiday coming up then to go to sunbeds and just put my hands in. I did and after 3 x 10 min sessions it cleared.
poor you, looks so sore OP xxx

I suffer badly from eczema OP, and my hands flare up like this from time to time, to the degree that when I bend my fingers they crack and bleed, and are VERY sore. I went to the doctor about it, a couple of years ago, and she gave me Betnovate, which cleared it up on that occasion, she also prescribed Cetraben cream, which I use on hands, face and body, and touch wood, haven't had a bad flare up since. Is this something you've tried?

Could it be shampoo?

Agree with this one!

You poor thing. That looks awful. I'd stay away from. E45. It had lanolin in and makes my excema worse. Its a common allergen.

Also have you been to any hot countries since having it and if so did it get better or worse or no different?

My son's exzema dissappeared very quickly when we moved to a warmer country from the UK. (It wasn't the reason we went but a fortunate co-incidence). In return I got Rosacea from the heat.... swings and roundabouts I guess.

Yow, that looks so painful. Please don’t use anything from The Body Shop or Lush, I think perfumes etc they put in their products will make things worse.

I hope you find something soon that helps.

Shot in the dark but I had awful flaky itchy skin on my hands for years. Tried lots of steroids which would help for a bit. It finally just completely went away. I think looking back it must have been triggered by the rubber on the push chair (Phil n Teds) because as soon as I stopped using a pushchair with youngest kid it was gone in a few months. Never had it again and I had it for about 6 years..... while my kids were in the buggy.... just an idea...

Hi OP, fellow eczema sufferer here. Was much worse as a child, but I have flare ups every now and then, often related to stress/during or after a bout of illness. Eating celery is supposed to help some eczema sufferers. I was forced to eating a whole bunch as a child when my mum learnt this and my eczema improved hugely. I know love celery but don’t eat it often but if I have a particularly bad flare up I’ll add it to my diet and it helps. If you’ve already tried this, sorry I’m now help and hopefully others can assist.

Green cream from Zoe Bee Beauty will sort you out.