To ask you about skin condition/dermatology in late 50s for my novel?

[VeepVeep]

Hello hive!

Before I track down a dermatologist, I wondered if anyone could help. A character has a habit of scratching her thighs raw in 1959. However, it could also be mistaken for eczema - but was it called eczema then? Or something else? And what would they prescribe? Sulphar?

Thank you all!

Hydrocortisone was used in the UK from the mid 1950s I believe

Also Camaline lotions, sunlight, salt baths,

Would that be something they’d have used coal tar on? Like that polytar shampoo stuff?

Yes to eczema and hydrocortisone in 1959. It was a relatively new wonder drug and transformed the lives of people with eczema. How usual is it to get eczema on thighs and no-where else?

My mum has chronic eczema and had to have what were called hot tar treatments from the 1940s onwards. She still had tar wraps applied during a nasty flare up in 1990.
Although it wasn't the same condition, the treatments shown for psoriasis in The Singing Detective TV series upset her too much to watch as she said it was too similar to her own experiences.
As if being wrapped in sticky bandages wasn't bad enough, some hospital staff treated her as if she had a contagious disease and showed obvious distaste in touching her. She was 9 when first hospitalised, and was in and out of Manchester Quay Street hospital until she started steroids aged about 20.

@HarrietSchulenberg - how awful for your mum. I'm so sorry.

VeepVeep, she had a rough time but her eczema abated somewhat when she started HRT. The 50s hospital experience was not a great one, though.