Eczema - How to handle having Eczema

Recentley when I have been writing reviews on skin care products I have often made a comment on how I feel it will be with others who have Eczema as myself am a sufferer of Eczema. I'll give you guys a little back story into Eczema and my experiences with it. I felt this would be a good beauty blog post as I can share some products that I have found work really well to help!

Eczema is basically a skin condition that makes the skin extremely dry and flaky. It can even be so drying that the areas can break the sin easily resulting in cuts and the skin can feel very tender. I myself was born with Eczema and had what was called in Infantile Eczema which remained throughout my adolescence until today. When I was born I had rather patchy skin and my mum, the angel she is, had to keep me moisturized with products such as E45 and Sudocrem to keep the skin hydrated. The patchiness and hyper pigmentation on my skin went but obviously as the toddler years and teenage years progressed it got more annoying for me to moisturize daily so this is when it tended to flare up - especially during puberty. During my teens my hands in particular would flake ridiculously so I had to learn to carry a hand moisturizer around, my feet and ankles were always so dry so I used to sleep in bed socks so I could put a thick amount of moisturizer on my feet. When I started shaving my legs at the age of 13 i found the Eczema on my legs became angry once a week so once again I had to rely on E45 to hydrate myself back up!

This pretty much stayed the same until I left for College. At 16 it had pretty much calmed down after puberty had hit bar one annoying area, my eyelids. Yes you read that right my eyelids. I constantly had to take time off because one day they would be dry, then I would itch them, then the next day they would be swollen shut. Even if I didn't itch them they would swell! So I had to moisturize my eyes throughout college to get rid of this! Annoying huh?

That was pretty much the last of my Eczema then because after college and heading in to University I found myself being much more responsible with my skin care as I knew with a busy lifestyle throughout the three years of Uni, work, volunteer work and staying at Partners houses and friends houses that if I forgot to maintain moisturizing my skin would flare up.

                      What are my tips?                                                          

Well I suppose my biggest tip of you are an Eczema suffer is to not slack on the moisturizing. If you use products for a while and think 'oh my skin is okay now I'll stop' you're wrong. If you stop you will probably find it comes back so maintaining moisturizing is key.

The Next tip I would give would be to find a moisturizer that works for you. It may take a while or it may be any old one that works for you because all skin is different. But make sure the moisturizer you are using works.

My next tip would be to make sure you carry some with you at all times. I carry hand moisturizer mostly as if my eczema flares up anywhere it is always my hands first and I haven't had a flare up in years since I carry hand moisturizer with my everywhere!

Also, if you stay at multiple houses such as you're in between parents houses, your partners house or your friends house, buy some moisturizer or travel bottles of moisturizer to keep at theirs just in case you need it or you forget yours!

Finally if you haven't consulted a doctor yet consult one, because they give great initial advice and can offer prescription products for when the skin gets bad. It is also good to confirm what you are suffering is Eczema.

                       What products would I recommend?                            

Below I will show you guys some products I have used and where I get them as well as how much they usually are. Of course these are just my recommendatios you can pick up and try out a variety of products until you find which one works for you! So on to the products I use! 

Above: E45 in tub version and the body cream version

E45 is kind of the go to product for those suffering with Eczema. Usually the tub version is prescribed to you if you do go to the doctors inquiring over eczema. Both are dermatological tested and absorb quickly in to the skin.The tub version is fragrance free for those of you that find fragrances irritable to the skin but the body creams you can buy have light fragrance, though to be honest I can't really smell much! I use E45 mostly when I just want a no frills quick moisturizer. For those on the go in between houses or places its great to just to leave wherever you need it as its a no frill moisturizer that is unlikely to not really work as it is the basic moisturizer that does the job. Go checkout the E45 brand here at their website. The E45 tub of product can be bought usually for £6.99 for 350g and the moisturizing lotion is usually around  £5.50 for 500ml and now can come in a hand bottle with a pump.

Above: Sudocrem Antiseptic Healing Cream

Sudocrem is less of a moisturizer but is great to use when the skin is really damaged in some areas from being dry. It is in fact a multi-purpose product and can be used for rashes, bed sores, sunburn, minor burns, surface wounds and acne but is also used for Eczema. For all over body use I would recommend this for at night as it is a thick solution but it is all down to preference really. I rarely use this now if I am honest as my Eczema doesn't get that bad or damaging to my skin anymore but for those of you that have cracked skin because of it this would be perfect! Occasionally I have one night out of a month I put this all over just to make sure my skin is in fact fully hydrated but that is just a personal preference thing! To go checkout the Sudocrem brand click here to go to their website. For this product you can either pay £2.55 for a 125g tub or for a 400g tub you will be paying around about £6.25.

Above: Aveeno moisturizing lotions

This brand I actually found out about through researching for products I could use to moisturize tattooed skin. These two products both have Aqua and Glycerin as their first two listed products. This is good as they are essentially both water and very hydrating. For me  these two just feel like I am rubbing water on my skin and my skin feels hydrated afterwards. I would recommend this for people with Eczema that have the skin in a good condition that are after 'feeding the skin' if you will. I love this to just rub in my skin when I climb in to bed for the evening especially the pump version as its so easy to just rub all over the body. The squeeze bottle I tend to randomly put on my neck and hands as and when it is needed. If you're interested in the Aveeno brand go checkout their brand and products here. For the Daily Moisturizing Lotion in the pump the cost is around about £5.10 for 300ml and for the Skin Relief moisturizing lotion the 200ml container is around £3.66 but is also available in a 300ml pump version for £4.77.

Above: Vaseline Healthy Hands and Stronger Nails hand cream

Not much to say about this one, this is my on the go hand cream. It does the job and keeps my hand smooth and also is fast absorbing. This is basically for me to keep my hands soft and or my own peace of mind that they are constantly moisturized. Go check out the Vaseline brand here, they usually offer this hand cream in different scents for around £1.74 but can be around £2-£3 in some places.

Above: Nivea In Shower Body Moisturizer Skin Conditioner

For those of you interested I did a review of this product here after receiving a sample.I loved the sample and recently I invested in the big bottle. I use this every day when I am in the shower and I love how it feels on the skin after the shower. Sometimes water can be drying to the skin depending on what is in it so I recommend this product for those of you guys that want a easy way to moisturize the skin. This method is quick and simple and gets the job done. Nivea is a good brand for moisturizing as well so you may be interested in their products, go checkout their brand over on their website here. For the 250ml container of this its rages from £2-£3 depending on where you buy it and for the 400ml its usually around £4-£5 again depending on where you buy it. This is available in both a dry and a normal skin formula but I would recommend the dry as it is just so moisturizing and soft on the skin.

So there is my chat, tips and recommendations for those of you with Eczema! So do any of you suffer from Eczema? How long have you suffered from it and what do you use to help your skin? Let me know in the comments!

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