Excema on my face, please help with skincare and makeup

[YesOfCourseAlways]

Out of the blue I have developed excema on my face, I don't know the cause. It started as a tiny patch on my nose and has spread down the left side of my nose and underneath my left eye and is now creeping around to my eyelid. The rest of my skin is fine. GP gave me hydrocortisone which didn't help noticeably, I've had better results with a Bioderma cream I found, it has really helped the skin on my nose but I look like a have a puffy red eyepatch on my eye. I feel like crying when I look in the mirror.

Concealer helps, but my foundations , which suited my normal/oily complexion are all wrong now and just emphasise the dry skin. I'm not sure what to buy now, I was thinking of Bobbi Brown balm foundation, but then I read it's highly fragranced which might irritate.

I'd be so grateful for any advice or recommendations 😊

I use the salcura dermaspray and the zeoderm.

I try not to wear make-up, as it seems to make it worse, even Clinique. Once I get it under control with hydrocortisone I use the Elegance Natural Skincare Goats Milk cream. I discovered it years ago, and have used it ever since as its the only thing I've found that doesn't stick and make it even worse. It's this one:
www.natural-skin-care.com/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=550

I totally agree with 70ontheinside. SLS really irritates my skin and any product that claims it's for sensitive skin is usually full of irritants.

I have had terrible eczema on my face over the past 12 months. Steroids did nothing, antibiotics and anti vitals did nothing. Aveeno made it a lot worse. Cetaphil finally got it under control, but it is very greasy, and although I am very relieved to have the eczema gone, my skin got very greasy and 'dirty' feeling. I am now using some stuff from the US called Rodan and Fields which seems fine, but I need to find an option from here in the U.K........

Eczema on the face is painful, embarrassing (I got asked if I had had acid grown over me!), and very distressing....... I hope you find something that works for you!

I can't use hc45 as it irritates my eczema. I use 1% hydrocortisone. Lather my face in 50/50. It's massively oily but my skin needs the moisture. Eczema tends to need waaaay more moisture than normal skin.

I then use veil cover cream which your GP can prescribe. I had a referral to a skin woman who matched up my skin. I think the charity is called changing faces.

Different people react to different ingredients. I had allergy patch testing at St Thomas' when my skin first started playing up.

For me fragrance is a big problem. Switching to Surcare instantly caused my face to calm down. Lavender and limonene seems to set it off badly which means I can't use virtually any "natural" product.

Another really common allergy to methylisothiazolinone, commonly used as a preservative in gentle hair products.

It's a bit of trial and error I think, but fragrance sensitivity is very common if you have an impaired skin barrier which is why they recommend trying a gentle washing powder.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions, it's great to have some products to try out, and comforting that I'm not alone, although I wish none of us were suffering with excema

Try graphite cream from Boots - it cured the eczema on my face

Please try to cut out any products full of chemicals.

Sorry, I know this is a support thread, but everything is made of "chemicals" so there's no way of avoiding them in any product.

I've had something similar-sounding and I think mine is "perioral dermatitis" - worth googling to see if this could be what you have. It's gradually getting better by treating it very gently and using an emollient cream. From what I've read, hydrocortisone cream could actually make it worse.