Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Eczema / dermatitis on hands - nothing works!

66 replies

latrucha · 07/03/2012 21:21

I've had this for about 15 years but under stress rescently it has got a lot worse. I know it is principally caused by stress and worsened by soaps etc.

I now regularly find my hands are bleeding where the skin has split and it's really painful.

I went to the doctor weeks ago and he prescribed very strong steroids. My old steroids no longer work and neither do hydrocortisone creams. It worked at first but now it is like all the rest. They used to clear it up but I would relapse when I stopped using them. Now they seem to make precious little difference.

I'm at the point of just going without them and trying to fix it through diet. I'm taking b vitamins, zinc and omega 3 and 6. I've cut out soap except for in the shower and on my hair etc. I am trying different moisturisers to find a good one. I'm on Burt's Bees at the moment and am about to try Weleda Skin Food.

Is it possible to have just as good an effect without the nasty creams, and what else can I try in order to do so?

What else can i try and can I improve it

OP posts:
NoNoNoMYDoIt · 07/03/2012 21:27

What strong steroids are you on?

Wear rubber gloves when you use shampoo on your hair and shower yourself. Seriously - shampoo is an extreme form of soap as it strips oil...

I have ulcerating eczema on my hands and have dermovate for them. BUT ... and this may not be what you want to hear .. I have found that since I have been doing an 'up day - down day' diet, I really don't need the ointment any longer. Basically, I came across the diet as a way of losing weight, because basically you eat 'every other day'. On your up day, you eat normally, to appetite, without bingeing. On your down day, you eat 500 kcal. That sounds extreme and it takes some getting used to. But it is supposed to help inflammatory conditions like ezcema and arthritis etc. And it has really helped mine. I even now wash up without rubber gloves on, which I could never do before. I have been following the diet since last July and have lost over a stone, but have now stabilised, and have adapted it so that I am maintaining but still managing not to flare up my eczema.

www.goodtoknow.co.uk/wellbeing/433388/The-Alternate-Day-Diet---what-is-it--who-s-it-good-for-

Original poster
latrucha · 07/03/2012 21:32

Interesting about diet... Will have a look.

Shock about rubber gloves in the shower. I'll try it though.

Dermovate is the one I was prescribed recently.

OP posts:
tardisjumper · 07/03/2012 21:34

I have v bad eczame on feet and i use dermovate at night with clingfilm on top. Coud you get cotton gloves for hands when you put on cream so it sinks in?

Original poster
latrucha · 07/03/2012 21:35

I've got them.

You both seem to think Dermovate is good? I just gave up hope after having no improvement after 10 days putting it on day and night.

OP posts:
suburbophobe · 07/03/2012 21:51

I have really bad eczema - can't even bear to wear rubber gloves. Itchy as hell.

I have it all over

Only thing that helps me is getting in the sun on a beach and in the salt water..

Cold and wet makes it worse!

(Did the allergy skin test, and 3 day food test - dairy/citrus/vegan....nothing came up..).

when can I emigrate to the sun and sea, I wonder

Original poster
latrucha · 07/03/2012 21:57

suburbophobe - is it hypoallergenic gloves you've tried because I found those ones much worse than the ordinary ones.

OP posts:
notforlong · 07/03/2012 22:28

I suffered from terribble eczema for years, completely cleared up now. I found it was the rubber gloves making it worse. I put on the betnovate and then cotton gloves and then the rubber gloves. It cleared up and did not return.

orangeflutie · 07/03/2012 22:39

I get eczema on my hands too and frequently get flare ups. It's generally not as bad as it used to be though. It was really bad just after one pregnancy so I think it can be linked to hormones too although the doctors generally don't agree.

I'm allergic to latex so generally wear hypoallergenic gloves on my hands and often use the disposable vinyl ones too.

I've tried quite a few steroid creams over the years but find I don't need them so much as I used to. I have betnovate which I put on occasionally. The rest of the time I wash my hands and moisturise them with Dermol which I get on prescription. I've found it really has helped since I started using it. A lot of the emollient creams are too heavy and seem to make my hands itch more.

I find the cold and wet weather makes my skin worse, it's generally better in summer. I also avoid citrus fruit, both handling and eating it as it causes irritation.

Hope this helps.

suburbophobe · 07/03/2012 22:42

latrucha, not sure about the hypo gloves if you can even get them here.

Don't live in the UK.

The greatest thing about my GP is that he is also a homeopath and told me from the beginning not to use Cortisone cream.

Thins the skin, stops your body making its own cortisol, etc.

NoNoNoMYDoIt · 07/03/2012 22:54

interesting, orangeflutie - mine started after first pregnancy, and then went away. came back after second pregnancy and hasn't gone (DD is now 3)...

NoNoNoMYDoIt · 07/03/2012 22:55

oh and i used cotton gloves and they didn't help at all... what has cleared it up (not to return) is the eating every other day thing. or perhaps that DD is now 3 and my body has recovered from pregnancy? either way, i have the tube of dermovate that i picked up from the pharmacy 18 months ago still in my handbag...

suburbophobe · 07/03/2012 22:57

Thanks orange.

Must say, Betnovate and Dermol don't say much as in what kind of stuff it is...
(or more importantly, what are the ingredients)..

Every country has their own stuff/name...

I am trying to "dump" anything chemical at the moment - difficult, even shampoo is...

notforlong, did you find out what had caused it, was it the gloves? how many years did you have it?

Actually, was just reading about coconut oil today, had that before (India) - it is brilliant, will have to hunt it down. So much prefer anything and EVERYthing natural...

Thanks for all your input!
By the way got a tip to go to the Dead Sea. YES! (just need the money LOL).

Hattie11 · 07/03/2012 22:58

I wash my hands with epaderm when I have a flare up on them. It's so greasy it leaves a nice layer. Also put it on before coming into contact with any water to act as a barrier.

NoNoNoMYDoIt · 07/03/2012 23:00

suburbophobe - worth considering a diet like i have tried? even for a few weeks? it may not be an allergy (don't think mine is)... but my skin improved massively within a week or so of starting and i now do dish-washing without rubber gloves and with Aldi washing-up liquid, which i could not even have touched previously...

jaype · 07/03/2012 23:05

If your hands flare after a shower, look at the ingredients in your shampoo etc. If it has something called sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) in it then you may be having a reaction to it. I cut it out and my dermatitis got much better. It;s a cheap foaming agent in everything from shampoos to babywipes and makes a lot of people flare.

jaype · 07/03/2012 23:06

You can get SLS free shampoo and conditioner at health food shops, or Toni and Guy organic shampoo and conditioner is SLS free

suburbophobe · 07/03/2012 23:13

NoNo, please let me know the diet (you can PM me if you want).

Did a nutricianists diet, was only 3 days of each product Hmm (time enough?).
someone told me at least a week...

jaype, what is SLS?

Have heard of Parabens being no good...

Yea, time to get ALL my stuff at the health food shop, eh?! Grin

wonkylegs · 07/03/2012 23:16

DH suffers really badly in three specific areas of his skin - triggered by hand washing at work (dr doing surgical so has no choice) , stress, some washing powders and most shampoos (finally thought we'd found one that was ok and they changed the bloody formula Angry)
We've cut out almost anything that can be as a trigger but washing powder at work is still an issue.
I also had it for many many years (have another auto immune disease RA so not so much of a surprise) but it's eased off since I got better control of RA & moved out of a hard water area. Hard water is major trigger and have to be careful when I go away, but since I've been up here it's cleared up loads. Skin still not the greatest but it's no longer at the peeling bleeding stage.

pippop1 · 08/03/2012 00:20

Anyone tried Aquamax cream or Aquamax wash? It's supposed to be v good for excema. It's an SLS-free leave on emollient. The Aquamax wash stuff can be used in the shower or bath instead of soap.

I think you can get it in Sainsburys. www.aqua-max.co.uk/

countessbabycham · 08/03/2012 00:33

I've found mine is definately worse when exposed to water a lot or damp for long periods,and particularly if any outdoor work is involved.
I actually find any form of rubber gloves can cause more of a problem than they solve as they cause my skin to sweat underneath,therefore my skin is damp consistently when wearing them!
For me the best solution is to cut out unecessary hand washing and use a basic eczema cream (eg doublebase) as often as possible.It seems to be as much 'prevention' as possible as 'cure' is so much harder.
I also often resort to good old fashioned Vaseline and cotton gloves in bed.

They do say if you pee on your hands it toughens them up.Anyone tried this?

onwardandupwards · 08/03/2012 23:22

I swear by organic sunflower cream and sudocrem works wonders, hope this helps.

south345 · 09/03/2012 03:35

Mine gets worse when I use shampoo with sls in, I use tresemme naturals.

I cant wear gloves as they make my hands burn so do steroid creams, the only thing that helps mine is Aveeno.

Original poster
latrucha · 09/03/2012 07:11

Gosh. Lots of things to try. I suppose the roblem is giving one thing enough time to work, which is tricky. I've put on Sudocema nd gone back to the Dermovate since I started this thread, and my hand has improved but I don't know which one improved it!

OP posts:
NoNoNoMYDoIt · 09/03/2012 12:40

latrucha - sudocrem is good for my hands too, and i also found a cream which i had for dry skin on my feet (which contained urea) was very good for my hands. someone else mentioned weeing on them - i suspect it was the urea!!

i also like vaseline - i think the ointment effect is what is so appealing about vaseline...

subrubophobe - the diet i do is called the 'up-day down-day diet'. you can read about it on the internet. it wasn't recommended to me by a nutrionalist or anything. i did it because it appeals to my eating pattern (all or nothing...) but as a side effect, it has helped with my eczema, as it is meant to help with inflammatory conditions. the alternate day calorie restriction (i am now in maintenance model so not fasting every other day, but still restricting calories) does seem to have helped my skin and particularly my eczema: www.johnsonupdaydowndaydiet.com/html/diet-science.html

ppeatfruit · 11/03/2012 09:29

latrucha Check out the blood type diet which completely cleared up my excema when i went on it. i found out it was tomatoes, vinegar and oranges that caused it Oh and burnt food like barbecues.