Have made a very painful mistake :(

[AvonCallingBarksdale]

I am 41. Years ago, I used to use an oatmeal and honey face scrub made by Mill Creek - tracked it down again recently and started using it again. Resulting in baby smooth skin could be that it was effectively removing a layer of skin, but there you go . Anyway, I have now broken out in v, v painful eczema patches on my eyelids and under my eyes. As the skin is so thin there it's very sore . I have stupidly sensitive skin as it is, and I hate trying out new products only to have to give them away because my face reacts. My current "regime" is Clarins foaming facial wash for sensitive skin and Simple light day moisturizer. Trouble is the eczema is just not shifting, and I have dry patches on my cheeks now, so I look pretty shit. I used to use Clarins gentle day creme, which is lovely, but at £37 a tub, I just can't afford it at the moment. So, any recommendations on what I can use on a face that's been stripped of all moisture? TIA

I have a simple, but rather meduical, skincare regime: I use Dermol (available in 500 ml squirty things) to wash with, and as a moisturiser.

As a lifelong eczema person, my general experience is that after 2-5 years of using the same product (absolute max), i start to react to it - whether that product be Diprobase, aqueous cream, Doublebase, Epaderm, whatever.

However I have been using Dermol daily for almost 10 years now - it is slightly antibacterial so was first prescribed for me when DD was at the nappy changing stage and my hands no longer worked because my eczema was so bad.

Very, very occasionally, when hands etc are very dirty, i use Simple soap. But it has to be an emergency, and never on my face.

I do find shampoo a big issue - because I can't apply it or rinse it off without getting it on my hands and on some of my face. The red weals down my face that it leaves are fairly unpleasant, but do tend to fade after a couple of hours. I would suggest that yiou are VERTY careful washing your hair while your face is bad - if possible, get someone else to apply the shampoo, and gently rinse it back from your face as a hairdresser would do. I have never yet found an effective shampoo that my hands and face don't react to, and Ii've been looking for over 40 years!

I don't know why, but 0.5% hydrocortisone cream is only available on prescription, while 1% cream can be bought over the counter. My GP prescribes 0.5% cream for me to use on excema on my eyelids.

It may be a bit unconventional, but I found that Lansinoh works well on excema, although it does make you look pretty shiny so it'd be better to use it overnight than during the day. I use it on the skin around my eyes when it isn't bad enough to use the hydrocortisone and it helps a lot. Doesn't sting either if you get it in your eyes, unlike the hydrocortisone cream.

It could be the Simple moisturiser. I used it for about two weeks and then one day - boom, bright red lesions on my face. Took a couple of days to calm down but used Avene cream to soothe it - it's very gentle and good for allergy prone skin.

As a lifelong eczema person, my general experience is that after 2-5 years of using the same product (absolute max), i start to react to it

Why is that though ? I used to use Clinique, then reacted to that, same seems to be happening with Clarins and Simple! It's bad enough being hyper sensitive to products without thinking I've nailed it with something, decide to stick with that and then, boom, allergic to that. so, my plan is, pharmacist, and if they won't give me OTC, trip to the GP.

La Roche Posay Cicaplast. Amazing stuff and the whole range is on 3 for 2 at the moment so you could get a tube of Effaclar H to use as a moisturiser when your skin has calmed down a bit and a nice non-foaming cleanser.

Aveeno cream as everyone says. I think they also do a facial skincare range.

Avoncalling, I don't know. For 'prescribed emollients' (I don't buy any skincare products form any brands, because i can't use them, so can't comment on those) one common thing that happens is that they change the preservative. Many 'generic' emollients are made by a range opf providers - a bit like 'Ventolin' blue inhalers actually come from a range of suppliers under NHS prescribing / supply contracts - and those are the worst for being very slightly different. Even branded emollients change their formulation every now and again.

I should imagine that non-medical skin products, like Clarins, Clinique, Simple et al undergo very slight changes to their formulation, or may be made in different factories, quite frequently, and that may well be enough to make you react to it. They don't need to be made to the very tight 'medical' tolerances in terms of exactly what goes in and in what exact proportions.

Other than that, it seems to be one of those mysteries of allergic response - that something that the body hasn't over-reacted to for years suddenly prevokes that 'ooooohhhh noooo' response, and then that product can't be used again for a long time. Ii have recently tried a product that I used, and then reacted to, 20 odd years ago, and didn't react to a patch test sized application, so that response also seems to die down with time.

I'm finding this fascinating! I had eczema around my eyes/lids recently for no apparent reason (except possibly stress). Managed it with a few days using a .1% steroid cream and now avene skin recovery cream. I have it badly this year on my hands and patches on face which I haven't had for years. Several others I know have also had it badly this year! Odd. Anyway I might try Aveeno!

Aveeno, E45, Eucerin, and A Derma will all do the trick. But agree you might need hydrocortisone - I usually do for a bad eye flare up.

Also drink as much water as you can hold, it makes a huge difference.

When everyone says 'Aveeno', which one do they mean? My local chemist seems to have a range of different Aveeno products.

The daily moisturising lotion or daily moisturising cream, for the body, are the ones we've used. Cream is thicker, but I find the lotion softens the skin amazingly. Both on prescription if you don't pay for them. If you do pay for your prescriptions, it's about the same or cheaper to buy your own.

We are now in the US and there's an Aveeno eczema therapy range here, but I haven't seen it in the UK.

The only thing that sorts out patches of eczema on my face is Hydrocortisone cream.You can buy 1% hc45 cream over the counter( just don't tell them its for your face)Use for a Couple of days to soothe.Thereafter use bland creams,moisturisers.I use Cliniques Cleansing balm and moisturisers and have very few problems now.Up your intake of fish oils( from oily fish) and flax seed oils ( veggie alternative).This will help reduce breakouts.

OP I had the very same thing a little while back. I also use Clarins, and its the only thing I have used for a few years. I fancied a cheaper option change so I bought a Clinique face wash instead of my usual Clarins one. By the next morning I had the flaky eczema like you, all down the sides on my mouth, eyes and under my chin.

I used some Sudocreme the first day, then took the facewash back that day so they could see what it did. I just used some aqueous cream for a couple of days to wash with and moisturize and within a few days it had cleared up. I continued with my Clarins and haven't had a problem again since.

I cannot use the oil cleaning method. I doesn't suit my skin at all and it makes the area on and around my nose very very tender. I have learned now not to change anything so I just stick to what I know... I am not risking looking like a panda bear again...

Thanks rootypig!

There have been lots of good advice already, just wanted to say that I have had pretty much the same thing - eczema on my eyelids and under the eyes, really painful and not at all attractive. I used 1% hydrocortisone cram (that was prescribed for my son) and PAW PAW ointment during the night and it was gone in 2 days.
I now try not to experiment with other face creams and just stick to my usual Body Shop Vitamin E night cream (I use it during the day as well, I love that it's really rich but it doesn't leave my face too greasy for make up either).

I had to use my normal steroid cream on my eyelids last year because the eczema was so awful. My GP said not to put it around the eyes because the skin is so thin, but I had no other option - I could barely open my eyes in the morning because they were so sore and swollen, and then would weep and be soo stingy :( I'd had the eczema on my lids for around 8 weeks before I started the cream though.
The steroid cream cleared it up quite quickly, and I've never had it since. Good luck OP, really hope you can find something

There's some great advice on here. I went to see the pharmacist this morning and he said I could have some steroid cream, but that in his opinion it wasn't quite bad enough for that so he's ordered me some special eye cream to try (will be ready tomorrow). I'll go with that first and if, after 2 days, it's not gone, then I'll go on the steroids. I sussed out the Aveeno section, too, and tried out a bit on my cheek - felt lovely and no reaction at all, so once this has cleared up, I'll switch to that, I think.
Teacherwith2kids, thanks for that explanation - very helpful and Spidergirl8, thanks for the tip about Clarins customer service, I'll try that. In the nicest possible way, too, this thread has been great for me to find out I'm not the only one with skin that reacts so much, as that is what it feels like sometimes!

Bit of an update

The pharmacist gave me something called Simple Eye Ointment, which is, essentially, vaseline, I think. It's worked well, although I imagine a steroid cream would have been quicker.
I've started using Aveeno, which is marvellous stuff!
Thanks to Spidergirl8's tip, I emailed Clarins customer service, and they did offer an exchange for my face wash. They were brilliant, actually.
So, thank you for all the tips and advice

tescherwith2kids there was a blog about detergent reactive eczema, they suggested that a soap bar for hair might be better. I think most shampoos have detergents - apart possibly from the green people children's berry smoothie shampoo.

We've used the aveeno eczema therapy range before which is brilliant.