Eczema/dermatitis on hands... heeeeeelllpppp

[DirtyDeeds]

I am in so much pain!!!
I’ve tried:
Hydrocortisone
Cocoa butter
Aveeno
Aesop balm
Hustle butter (!)

I cannot bear it!! Please please advise on anything that could work?!

You need a stronger steroid cream or ointment. Yes they have side effects but drs only prescribe them because the damage to your skin in it’s current condition is more harmful. If you use steroid cream you need to wean off slowly not stop as soon as the skin looks better (which will usually be reasonably quickly). Otherwise it will rebound.

Steroid cream is the only thing that works for me, usually Betnovate. But if I can't get to the GP the only thing that gives me any relief is Palmers Coconut Oil Handcream (not Cocoa Butter). Before I discovered this I swore by Neutrogena intensive hand cream which is good but Palmers is better as it's oily and thick. It really puts moisture back into my dry scaly hands.

I have awful eczema on my hands and steroid cream doesn't help. I'm 3 weeks into trying Tacrolimus ointment and it's helping hugely. First time in ten years my hands aren't cracked.

this:
www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/5042/smpc#gref

it is a steroid cream and only available on prescription but my mum had some and my hands were in a terrible state with eczema, red raw bleeding . so I borrowed some..seriously next day my hands were 90% better 2 days it was gone. I have since had it prescribed by own dr..but I literally only have to use it once to clear it up.

I have pompholyx which hurts like fuck.

My hands are currently free of it, (my feet aren't tho) but the only thing that fixed it was radiation treatment

The best cream I have found is Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour cream. Expensive, but lasts for ages.
All the steroid creams, aveeno, child's farm etc didn't even touch it.

I have eczema on hands and sides of mouth. Only combo that helps me is La Roche Posay Baume 5 as a thin layer, followed by cetraben cream. It is a constant battle to keep it at bay at the moment.

If you have Instagram, follow my goodness recipes, Hanna Sillitoe, she's a skin expert and many people have been helped by her, she was on dragons den and she has two books out, she will tell you what you should cut out of your diet... I've seen fantastic results

Dermol 500 lotion is a game changer. Both mine and my sons hands really flared up with all the extra hand washing and the sanitiser. I added Dermol pumps to all the places we wash our hands, to use instead of soap, (about 5 days ago) and our hands are nearly back to normal already. I had tried all sorts before that, so I can’t believe how quickly it has helped.

Astonishing how many people are suffering and no definitive cure!! Loads of things to try thank god, I’ve resorted to sleeping meds to try to sleep through the night without the itching waking me up

I went through this a few weeks ago. I literally wanted to sand my fingers they were so unbearably itchy. I'd wake just tearing at them.

I used steroid cream and have to avoid sanitizer gel on the more affected hand as it's a trigger. I wash my hands with mild soap frequently but a day of shopping and being asked to sanitize in every shop, really set it off. I now pretend to use it, awful though that sounds.

The skin on those fingers is still dry but nowhere near as bad as it was. At one point I could barely straighten my fingers without the skin splitting

My gp gave me epaderm to use 3 times a day and fucidin h cream to use twice a day on my dermatitis on my hands.

@Takeitonthechin that's really interesting. You are what you eat. I'm sure a colleague of mine used to say sugar made her worse. I will look at that for my DS.

@leah2005... it is what we are eating, so no amount of cream will cure it only soothe it for a while, her advice has certainly helped me, 3 of the big triggers for me are gluten, sugar and nightshades... I think dairy is bad for eczema

@Takeitonthechin my DS has changed his diet since being at uni (now vegetarian) and I'm not sure what he is eating. Seems to be a lot of spinach, rice and noodles so who knows. I'll get him to look at this. He was a big milk drinker so could possibly be that.

Elecon steroid cream is the only thing that helps my poorly hands, I don't use it often but always have a tub at home. It's like a super version of hydrocortisone, at night I wash my hands thoroughly (even though it's sore) then I put the cream on, then I put light disposable gloves on and sleep with them on. In the Morning my hands are x100 times better and healing. If you do this a few nights in a row you'll see a huge improvement, ask your GP for some! It's magic!

Thank you all! I’ve not changed my diet at all and keep low on dairy so I am thinking stress could be a reason

Have had this my whole life (now 28) on fingers and palms and I completely appreciate this may not work for everyone for me the best thing to manage it has been a daily probiotic which a doctor recommended. I was sceptical but it has really helped. Still have flare ups but more manageable and I haven’t had a flare up where my skin has been so cracked and broken I can’t use my hands which used to be a monthly occurrence! In terms of creams, I use dermol as hand wash, a thin layer of Dermovate twice a day and at bedtime, cetraben on top of the Dermovate and cotton gloves on overnight. Use cetraben for dryness during the day whenever needed. In the winter, gloves on whenever it is even slightly cold as the cold weather makes it so much worse! I sympathise, I have eczema elsewhere as well but the hands seems the worst to manage!

@DirtyDeeds such a useful thread you have started here. Thank you. I find it stressful to see the state of my DS's hands so goodness knows how you all cope with this. I hope that by sharing this information you will find some relief.
@Ashmarie can you let us know which prebiotic you use and where you got it from? Do you store it cold?

*probiotic

@Leah2005 I buy from Optibac (you can also buy these on Amazon) and use the ‘For Every Day - Extra Strength’ type. You don’t have to keep this brand refrigerated.

@Ashmarie thank you. #shufflesofftoamazon

Theres only 2 things that work for my persistent eczema. One is betnovate steriod cream, applied consistently until it's completely gone.
The other is deep treatment with the emollient cream - get some thin cotton gloves, apply a very thick layer (and I mean coat it on as much as you can) of emollient cream to your hands(I use aquamax but you could try cetroban - but DO NOT do this with the steroid cream), put the gloves on top and leave them on all night. Keep doing this every night until the eczema goes. I find this works a treat. My eczema does keep coming back, especially at the moment, so I do have to keep on top of it and treat it before it's gets really bad.

@Whalewhale

Elecon steroid cream is the only thing that helps my poorly hands, I don't use it often but always have a tub at home. It's like a super version of hydrocortisone, at night I wash my hands thoroughly (even though it's sore) then I put the cream on, then I put light disposable gloves on and sleep with them on. In the Morning my hands are x100 times better and healing. If you do this a few nights in a row you'll see a huge improvement, ask your GP for some! It's magic!

Oh I looked this up and it's another name for mometasome furoate that I mentioned up thread I agree it's amazing stuff!

I've had it on my hands for years and tried steroids, ointments, barrier creams etc. They only ever gave short term relief before I became allergic to them.

I have been coating my hands in calendula oil every night for months and all the damage of years of cracked skin, rashes and horrible scars has cleared up. I have no idea why it works (for me) and not sure why I tried it...but have tried so many things. It did take a week to make any difference.

I hope you find the one that works for you. It is a painful and unsightly condition and you have my full sympathy.

The probiotic sounds v interesting, will certainly try that too

Definitely go and see your GP if you can. I spent about six months suffering with awful hand eczema and nothing really made much difference until I went to the GP and she prescribed a steroid cream. I can't remember what it was - maybe Fucibet - but it made a massive difference within a day. Honestly, it's a miracle worker. My GP said that hand eczema is very stubborn and you often need something more than hydrocortisone to help it.