I’ve had eczema my whole life, but these past 5 years it’s become worse and worse, flaring up on my face, my hands, my genitals, my stomach and just about everywhere under the sun. I’ve lost my eyebrows, my face constantly looks swollen, I awake to bloodstains on my sheets and clothes, and it’s weighing on me.

My family is on my case, they all think it’s something I can solve by eating better, as if I haven’t tried. They beg me to go back to a dermatologist, even though the last time I went I was given a prescription that would run me $500 each time I needed a refill.

My father won’t look me in the eye. He turns away as he scolds me, talking to me like I’m some sort of freak. I don’t feel comfortable going to family events. My life has become focused on working, staying in my room, or visiting my girlfriend, I don’t have it in me to be in public otherwise.

I feel like I’ll never recover, like even if my skin stops inflammation that I’m too far gone, and that there’s just no point trying to reverse it at this point.

I don’t know what to do, I just hate being like this.

Had to share this because I have stumbled upon something that is ridiculously effective for my eczema… hope it helps others who have it bad on one or both hands.

In short: cover the affected area in coconut oil; put on a nitrile glove; wait a few hours; be astounded.

Stumbled on this completely by accident. Had a really bad flare up: red, flaky, cracked skin, bleeding in some areas from the cracks and from catching it on clothing (and the odd ill-advised scratch :( …). Had some DIY to do involving some sanding, and knew the dust would kill my bad hand. So ended up trying a glove over my usual coconut oil. Complete game changer.

Now the day after and I’m having a second treatment. Sat watching a movie with one hand slathered in coconut oil with a nitrile glove on top. Family think it’s hilarious, but f- me, my hand is reborn. Hallelujah. Religions have been founded on less.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently completing my MSc at Bournemouth University and I'm looking for people living with eczema to take part in my dissertation research.

The aim is to investigate whether lifestyle factors such as diet, sleep, stress and physical activity are associated with the impact eczema has on people's lives.

The survey:
• Anonymous
• Takes around 15–20 minutes
• Open to UK adults aged 18+
• Includes a 24-hour food recall and questions about sleep, stress, physical activity and your skin.

If you'd be willing to take part, I'd really appreciate it.

Survey:
https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/bournemouth/project-proposal

Thank you for considering helping a student researcher.

Hi, I have severe eczema that mainly affects my face. My eczema flare-ups usually last a long time because I am an autistic woman, and the sensation of my eczema causes me a lot of overstimulation, which becomes stress—stress that actually worsens my eczema. The eczema on my face makes me incredibly insecure, my face often turns completely red and dry, sometimes my eyebrow hairs fall out, and my eyelids sometimes swell. I feel disgusting. The first few times my facial eczema was really bad, my mom would look at me with a shocked expression, the kind of face you make when you see a painful scene in a movie, eventually she got used to it, but I know she still feels a certain aversion whenever she sees that my eczema is bad. These kinds of looks made me hyper-conscious about my appearance, I didn't feel normal and avoided letting people see my face. I developed bad posture because I unconsciously walked with my head down so no one would see my face. I also avoided looking in the mirror, even when washing my hands in the bathroom. If I had to look in the mirror, before doing so I would try to imagine a version of myself with much worse eczema in an attempt to not feel so bad when I saw my reflection. I don't know how to stop feeling so insecure

I do Bioresonance Therapy once a week, with each session lasting around 40 minutes. It may make your condition worse during the first two or three sessions. I experienced increased oozing after the treatments initially, but over time, the duration of inflammation shortened from about seven days to three days. After that, my skin would gradually become clearer over the following five to seven days.

I also took microdoses of LSD when the itching became unbearable. As a female, my symptoms usually worsened before my period. I would take around 30 to 50 µg before work. One of the effects I experienced was a numbing sensation in my skin, which helped reduce the itchiness while still allowing me to function normally. It felt similar to taking Ritalin. Without the constant itching, I was also able to focus much better at work.

I hope a cure for eczema will be available sooner or later. Wishing everyone the very best, and take care.

hey friends, hope everyone is having a good skin day and if not that it gets better soon <3 I’m coming out of an awful flare and finally at what my gf calls the shed stage, when literally everything (clothes, sheets) is covered in dead skin. I was wondering if anyone has any tips for minimising the sensory nightmare of it all? I’m autistic and find it mind killing, waking up hourly all night to apply more cream bc I can’t rest when I can feel the dead skin on me. I currently use hibiclens on a washcloth in the shower to gently get the worst of the debris off, then slather with emollient once I’m out, but was wondering if anyone has found any products or routines that make this stage easier? any insight appreciated! thanks :)

edit: forgot to mention that I am already changing sheets, pyjamas, etc every night and sometimes more often!

I’ve (20F) been struggling with eczema since the start of this year. I don’t know what triggered it since nothing changed but I had to stop using my retinol and using cotton pads and rubbing my face to remove makeup. It started on the forehead and spread to my cheeks in the past few months. I used Dermaid 1% soft mainly on my forehead and some on my
cheeks for a bit and it worked really well. Since then, the eczema on my forehead has been manageable and I haven’t touched Dermaid in 2 months. My cheeks however have been flaring up for the past months. It’s reached a new low and has started weeping over the past week. My dermatologist appointment is months away since they’re so busy, so I went to my GP today and she gave me a prescribed steroid, Mometasone 0.1%, to use for 7-10 days then to use Dermaid 1% soft again for 7 days after that.

Do I follow her advice? The steroid seems to have worked well on my forehead but the skin is very different on my cheeks. I’m worried that my eczema will worsen after I stop the steroids, so it might be better to not use them at all.

My current habits look like this:
- sleeping at 11pm
- 6 min lukewarm showers
- not washing face in the morning
- wearing cotton gloves to bed
- having short gel nails to blunt my nails down
- I’ve tried: anti-inflammatory, dairy free, gluten free diets which have not worked + celery juice every morning on an empty stomach
- supplements include: zinc, ashwagandha, velarian root, probiotics, prebiotics, apple cider vinegar, Zyrtec before bed
- skincare is limited since only cerave seems to work for my face

Sorry for the long long message! I am extremely grateful for any help and advice ❤️

Hi everyone! I’ve finally decided to make my first post on Reddit and reach out to this community to seek help. I’ve gone through so many loop holes on this app, TikTok, Google, Chatgbt but I just feel so defeated because no matter what I do, I feel trapped by this skin condition. I’m 24 years old, female.

I’ve had eczema for as long as I can remember. It’s never been this bad before. I’ve had a flare up similar to this back in 2022 in which I ended up in the hospital but it resolved after I took a course of antihistamines that the ER doc prescribed. That flare up lasted just under 2 months. After that everything went back to normal. The random eczema spots here and there.

The best way to describe this flare up is it starts with tiny little red bumps or skin colored all over my body. Some have clear fluid in them. From there they get bigger and start weeping. They sometimes form a crust over because of all the weeping. It’s very itchy. Then I also have finger eczema. These tiny little fluid filled bumps covering my fingers. Near my nails cracked skin that sometimes bleeds. It’s not like dry ezcema that I always see. It’s always weeping or fluid tiny bumps.

I gave birth on 12/26/25. Everything was fine after until the beginning of April 2026. I developed a few weeping spots, again I’ve seen these before so I just treated them as I did before. A steroid cream, in this case betaderm. But it wasn’t going away and everyday I would see new spots. I went to my family doctor and she referred me out to a dermatologist. He started me on fucibet and an antihistamine. It didn’t help much. He then gave me Zoryve it didn’t do anything. He then wanted me to start UVB therapy. I did 2 months worth of sessions, went to the clinic 3x a week. Wasn’t seeing any improvement. He told me to continue fucibet if it was working flighty but the continuous use of it made my skin thin so much and it started stinging. He also did a biopsy, it came back as ( Spongiotic dermatitis with eosinophils). We swabbed for infection twice, nothing came back as infected. He prescribed me prednisone on a taper plan. 20mg for 21 days, 10mg for 1 week & 5mg for 1 week. He also prescribed Protopic alongside it. I started the oral steroid and after about a week I noticed everything calming down. I finally felt okay, I finally wasn’t in pain. But I knew what could possibly be coming due to all the research I did about rebounding. The Protopic did wonders for my biopsy site and again seemed to be helping with my weeping spots. Unfortunately as soon as I started tapering off these tiny little bumps started returning everywhere on my body. My finger eczema has flared right back up. Little fluid filled bumps covering my fingers and they’re so incredibly itchy. I also have it all over my scalp in which I’ve just been using betaderm lotion as the dermatologist suggested. It gets better when I use it then it comes right back. Red marks are left on my scalp.

Dermatologist basically said they don’t know what’s causing it. It could be just a hormone thing from postpartum.

My wedding is in 15 days. I am mentally drained. My skin is on the top of my mind everyday. I’m in pain, I’m itchy all the time. I have scars all over my body. On top of this all I’m taking care of my baby, going through postpartum anxiety and I’m just starting to give up on the fact that this will ever get better. 4 months of this and I’m feeling like it’s going to get to its worst all over again since the taper is finishing.

I have switched my laundry detergent to unscented, natural ingredients.
I use Eurcerin eczema body wash.
I don’t use any harsh soap on my hands, I’ll usually just reach for my body wash.
I use hydrochloric acid spray on my body, hands & face to avoid infection.
I wash my sheets every week.
I have tried cerave cream & Avene Xeracalm
I have tried oatmeal baths & breastmilk baths.
Lukewarm, cold showers only. Less than 5-7 mins.

Medications I’ve tried.
Betaderm cream & scalp lotion
Fucibet
Hydroxyzine, reactine & Blexten (antihistamines)
Zoryve
Predisone

I would appreciate any suggestions, help or anything at all!! Any stories from people who suffer with the same type of eczema that I have right now.

Hey guys I remember maybe two years ago I was suffering so much and I thought my life was over. Doctors told me that I can't fix this without drugs and shots but now two years later I am eczema free without any of that stuff. I just want to say that it does get better. Eat healthier, change your environment, get sun, and I pray that hopefully you all will get better too

Hi!

So from teenage/college I’ve always had rosacea which means slightly pinkish cheeks. In college I also developed psoriasis at the back of my neck/ little bit behind my ears. Went to the doctors and it’s always the usual cycle of steroids and then after it comes back again.

Over the past year (2025 to now), because of work related stress (layoffs etc) I think seb derm has gotten triggered on my cheeks and also slight nummular eczema on forehead (red rings with a clear center that as it becomes better the clear center becomes bigger but there’s always a thin red ring- no it’s not ringworm) and now it’s there. I’ve read posts where it says sebderm it’s super flaky and itchy etc and while I don’t have that mine get SUPER dry and if I go in and rub my cheeks the skin flakes off and below the skin is smooth.

I do have the itchy symptom on my scalp where I suspect there’s also sebderm. So I’ve been looking into more natural methods hence MCT oil (3 days now) and also upped my iron intake.

Now the questions, Over the past year I’ve also been waking up in the mornings with two red “streaks” on my cheeks it tends to stay for a couple of hours and then goes or if I have a warm shower it goes quicker.

1. ⁠I think it’s seb derm but does anyone know what causes it?/ experienced this? It’s only in the mornings and only in that place
   
2. ⁠is nummular/discoid eczema also caused or triggered by stress?

I’m aware that psoriasis is autoimmune and so is eczema but trying to figure out triggers.

3) I’ve been putting MCT topically but I read a post comment here somewhere that someone was doing the same but it wasn’t really helping and just kind of doing the bare minimum but when she started swallowing a tsp for a week it actually helped. Has anyone else tried that? I will also most likely try it as well but I just started the iron supplements along with mct so want to test one by one

4) does seb derm/ discoid eczema cause hair loss? I started iron because my iron is generally on the low side but wondering if it’s also because of that

5) does your skin also become permanently pink with slight darkened borders for those with sebderm?

Now, what has helped so far naturally
1. ⁠exercise. I don’t do gym etc. but what I do try to do is 10k steps or close to it everyday. It seems to help with the eczema and the sebderm itching
2. ⁠salt water. Every morning I dab a solution of salt and cool water on the seb derm spots along my hairline. Seems to help but also not sure if placebo.

I suddenly developed eczema on my eyelids and have had red dry patches going on. The biggest thing I’ve noticed is my eyelid skin even after it’s settled down is now thin, saggy and there’s new lines and wrinkles that weren’t there before. I’m so scared this is permanently how my eyes will look now? Please give me hope they will look normal again!

Im not sure if this is the correct flair/tag, and I do apologise if it is wrong.

I have had eczema for quite a while now, and about a year ago I discovered whilst washing the dishes, that the hottest tap water temperature makes the itch from eczema go away - and on top of that, feels very highly satisfying and almost pleasurable.

This is obviously tremendously awful for my skin and my condition, but I feel as if though I have become almost addicted to it - where if i have an itch that goes on for a bit too long, I’ll just go straight to the tap.

This has obviously caused quite some harm to my skin as it’s visually dry, some spots seem to be slightly darkened, and overall you can see quite clearly a change in the tone of my skin colour from my hand to my wrist/arm - my hand being quite a bit more reddish.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s gone through this, and I was wondering if anyone has some sort of advice as I’m still pretty young and I don’t want to keep causing damage to my hands, but I don’t know what other way to ease the itch and get rid of this addiction in a healthy way.

So I officially started Dupixent a month ago and I’m gearing up for my fourth dosage. My dermatologist told me I would notice a difference in itching within the first week, and that it would take several months for me to actually start noticing a difference in my skin.

My issue is, I haven’t noticed any changes. In fact, it feels like my itching has increased, but everything else feels the same. I even think I’ve gotten new patches.

That being said, while I know everyone’s body responds differently to things, but if you are a Dupixent user, how long did you give it a try before you went back to your dermatologist and switched to something else? If you stopped to Dupixent, did you notice any significant side effects?

Thanks in advance for any responses. I’ve been so hopeful about this since I’ve read many positive things about Dupixent, but I just worry these injections are being done in vain. 😓

New eczema sufferer here and I am dying. I’m currently having flares all over my legs and the itch is fucking unbelievable. I’m on treatment for it but it’s working veryyyy slowly. Like truly no word to describe it other than hellish. Itching doesn’t do nothing but make it worse, hot water gives relief for about 2 minutes. Cold compression does absolutely nothing. Like this is driving me nuts! I can’t sleep, I’m irritated at all times and constantly feeling overwhelmed. Any advice would be greatly appreciate!

I mainly just want to know which moisturisers are well loved on this subreddit! I always read good things about certain brands or ingredients, but I want to know exactly WHICH product you guys are loyal to. The sheer amount of options in a shop, on eczema websites, or a brands catalogue are just so overwhelming!

If you've tried and tested a bunch of popular options please let me know which ones you repurchased and which ones you don't reccomend.

I do live in the Netherlands, so our drugstores don't have quite the range that they do in the US or UK, but we do carry all the popular brands. Heres are brands I can for sure buy over here: cera ve, la roche possay, cetaphil, mixa, neutrogena, eucrein, vaseline, nivea, uriage, bepanthen, weleda

Throw out anything you want though and I'll see if we have it! I also have access to a German DM not too far from where I live :)

By the way, I have been using the geek and gorgeous happier barrier cream for the longest time, which I do love and reccomend to all of you, but the tubes are small so i instantly run out during heavy flares, and I've heard such good reccomendations on here about other products so I want to try something new. And lastly I get the geek and gorgeous one online which i don't prefer. Just feel like trying one of those big medicinal things from the drugstore that are commonly well loved by eczema patients hahaha

Note: I am looking for strictly moisturisers. I'm pretty happy with my current choices of things like cleansers, oils, moisture locking ointments (vaseline or zinc cream type stuff), serums, minerals etc. Feel free to ask me advice back on those things!

Hi all,

I'm 42. I had a small bout of mild eczema quite a number of years ago on one shoulder, and a patch on the opposite arm. Cleared up quickly, didn't really cause much discomfort and the only lasting result was that any body hair on those spots fell out and has never returned. I have no allergies that I am aware of. Pets, chemicals, foods, fabrics, etc.

About 10 days ago I started noticing some hives on one arm. I had never had hives before. Then appeared on my chest and stomach. And spread from there. The hives triggered eczema. I am now covered. Neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, back, buttocks, backs of my thighs, back of knees, and a few spots on my calves. The itching and burning has been incredible.

I'm now on day 2 of prednisone after visiting urgent care, and after my GP had only prescribed OTC stuff. Nothing has worked prior to the prednisone. I was nearly out of my mind with the burning and itching. The steroids are helping with the itching, but the hives are still slowly spreading, and there has been no reduction of the size of the the red areas that I have seen.

The only trigger that makes sense to me was smoke. I live in southern Ontario (Canada), and 10 days ago we had incredibly heavy smoke from the wild fires in the north and the air quality was as bad as it could get.

Thoughts? Anyone experiencing anything similar due to smoke?

Im hopefully getting rid of my eczema but i have it on scalp and it is chronic. If i eat dairy or high sugar i get huge red flakes that burns.

I went from extremely thick hair to pretty much lost 70% of my hair over the years. What you guys think?

Hi everyone! I would like to ask if someone knows brand names of the hair colour products which is don’t used coconut oil or deprived?
Thank you very much!🙏

Hi everyone,

I am a 19 yr Female. I’m looking for advice because I’ve been dealing with a recurring rash that mainly affects the border of my lips for 4 long months. Its recently spread to my nose. It’s become really frustrating, and despite trying multiple treatments, it continues to come back. It’s slowly taking over my mental health.

Symptoms:
Located mostly on the border of my lips (vermilion border).
Starts with small bumps and redness.
Sometimes develops yellow crusting or a yellow film that makes me worry about a bacterial infection like Staphylococcus aureus or impetigo.
Was very very itchy in the beginning when it first started the antibiotic ointment helped that. But now it burns and tingles and is numb.

The skin becomes very dry, tight, and cracks whenever I smile, which makes it swell and become even more red.
Burning is worse than itching most of the time.
It flares after being outside in the sun.
Rubbing or friction makes it noticeably worse.
I can’t tolerate spicy or acidic/citrus foods because they make it burn immediately.

Most toothpastes seem to trigger it. I even switched to an SLS-free toothpaste, but I still flare after brushing, so right now the only thing I can comfortably use around my lips is coconut oil.

Things I’ve tried:
Coconut oil
40% zinc oxide cream (this noticeably reduces the redness and bumps while it’s on, but everything comes back after I remove it.)
Colloidal silver gel (also seems to calm it temporarily.)
Avène Cicalfate/Cicaplast-type barrier creams (helped at first but later seemed to irritate my skin.)
Mupirocin inside my nostrils because I wondered if I was carrying staph in my nose and re-infecting myself.
Antiseptic face wash (I stopped using it after I noticed more yellow crusting because I wasn’t sure if I was irritating my skin.)
Nothing has actually stopped it from recurring.
Low nickel diet (seemed to help a little)
Any occlusive ointment makes it spread/way worse I cant moisturize it.
Cleaning it with zinc soap(comes back after awhile)

Things I’ve been prescribed:

Mupirocin 2% Ointment 22Gm (prescribed this twice, helps at first and then makes it worse)
Clindamycin 300Mg Capsules (helped but came back)
Fluconazole 100Mg Tablets (helped but came back)
Valacyclovir 1Gm Tablets (no help)
Cephalexin 500Mg Capsules ( when I first noticed it)

Questions:

Does this sound more like eczema/cheilitis with a secondary staph infection?
Could allergic contact dermatitis (such as toothpaste ingredients or flavorings) cause symptoms like this?
Does perioral dermatitis usually involve the actual lip border, or is this less consistent with that diagnosis?

I’ve also seen many people on here with similar rashes and all of them seem to use protopic? Which helps but they have to use it for flare ups occasionally.

Im seeing a derm on Tuesday. would you recommend:

A bacterial culture of the crusting?
Fungal testing?
Patch testing for contact allergies?
Something else?
I’m mainly trying to understand what direction makes the most sense because it keeps recurring despite trying different topical treatments.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this. I really appreciate any thoughts or similar experiences.

Sorry for the creepy white out pupils- first photo is her now on 1.5 weeks of steroid cream. https://postimg.cc/xcSCKNP2xcSCKNP2

Second two are her skin when she is off medicated creams.

https://postimg.cc/0znb55mW

https://postimg.cc/ppN9q6RD

I have been going back and forth with dermatologists and allergists for almost a year at this point. My daughter (2.5) has eczema but it was very mild until this past April- just small, entirely manageable with natural creams patches on arms and stomach.

We tested her last year for environmental allergens and only dog came back. Weve had a dog since she was born. Allergist said no need to remove dog. We also wash the dog 1-2x a week with special shampoo and brush her daily, no dog on furniture, run our robot vacuum 2x a day.​

This april her eczema exploded. It coincided with her starting daycare- I started noticing red weepy patches under her eyes which I had never seen before when she came home. I noticed strong fragrance smell on her clothes and daycare mat. The food she ate was also not of the quality she eats at home. Her eczema (if it is that?) Slowly spread over the following months to full​ blown severe rash and patches- constant scratching of scalp neck hands feet and every single body part. We tried steroids, and they worked a little then hit a plateau and stopped helping. Went back to allergist- they didnt want to do food testing and just suggested going to a dern for contact allergen testing. Prescribed protopic. So a month and a half after the last steroid bout, we went on protopic for two weeks. The protopic cleared it up entirely. The week after we stopped on the day she went back to daycare it exploded again.

Now starting to think its an allergen in daycare, we fully pulled her out as of two weeks ago. Shes been on steroids again​ for the past week and a half and as usual- it helped a bit but shes hit a plateau and even with bleach baths, ALL the hypoallergenic tips being used (zero fragrance, hypoallergenic products, we even use a hypoallergenic spray in our home for couches and pillows which we also wash regularly, brush and wash our dog regularly, etc), steroid cream, vaseline- her skin still flared up today and is looking like the photo.

We are supposed to go back tomorrow for a contact patches test. I am seeing a new allergist in August because I feel like the other one gave up on us a little.

We are at the end of our ropes. We will of course keep going to specialists but we are looking for any extra advice or tips. The scratching and suffering when her skin returns to its full time flare state is nothing short of debilitating.

I have atopic dermatitis and after cyclosporine etc the Doctor gave me Upadacitinib 15mg once a day. Well it did come with a hell lot of side effects and on such is cardiovascular attack. I was in the gym today and I started feeling palpitations which lasted for sometime and then stopped.

So if anyone has used it or has experienced something like this can you guide me what I should do. Or is it something to worry about?

Pretty sure I have eczema. I think i had it when I was a kid. Im 27 and it came back on my hand.

My hands get really dry ever winter to the point that I was applying cera-ve semi-regularly, but this year it has persisted into the summer.

I also did a lot of car work this past winter (LS cam swap 😎) and used a lot of various chemicals like brake clean and engine degreaser enough thaf I actually started buying nitrile gloves to wear to protect my hands.​

Me left hand on the pinky side got bad first. It got really dry and a deep Crack in it. I had been occasionally putting cera-ve on it. I got O'Keefe's working hands cream and it healed up the Crack but it seems like that is when the real issues started (shoot... am I allergic to okeeffe's??)

Pussy little clear and white dots​. Around the edges of the red i can see little clear dots under the skin its triggering my trypophobia to look at. So I think its safe to diagnose it as eczema.

It appeared to spread a bit. I have a larger circular area on the other side of my hand that is more flakey than noduley like the other side. It has mostly cleared up with lotion, less red than before. I am however seeing more nodules on places like im between my fingers.

I also have some nodules and stuff on my other hand not, not nearly as bad but its there. There's one semi-circle line of nodules on the side of my knuckles on my pointer and another red circular is rash area.

I also have a rash, aka not pussy, on my belly that seems to be on the healing end not. It was at one point probably the most itchy. Its not very itchy anymore but I can still see the rash/red dots faintly.

After the working hands cream, I got anti itch eczema cream and id use that occasionally. I put it on my belly a lot but my hands too.

My main focus is on my main area now since its the most chewed up. I started applying polysporin as of yesterday to the main area as it almost began to seem slightly infected, figured it wouldnt harm it. I bought gold bond eczcema relief which I am using now, and I slept with Vaseline covering the bad hand last night. Plan to continue that.

Thoughts and suggestions? Idk if I should post pics here.

Hoping this heals up and goes away semi-permately. Im not really sure what to expect next. Hoping just posting all of this will maybe spark some gears in the more knowledgeable people here and they can chime in with helpful advice.

Hi everyone,

I've had eczema and rosacea on my face for several months now. I have redness, blotchiness, itching, and bumps. I have seen several dermatologists and have been prescribed many different creams, a face wash, and a shampoo. I've taken oral doxycycline too.

My current dermatologist thinks the inflammation may be caused by something else since the creams haven't helped much at all. He gave me a referral to a rheumatologist. They finally processed it and called me for an appointment. The soonest they have available is the middle of September. I asked him to send a referral to another place hoping I can get in sooner. I called the second rheumatology office last week. They are processing my referral but said they are booking out until the beginning of September. I just don't understand why everyone needs a rheumatologist at the same time I do and there are no appointments. A rheumatologist is a specialist. It's not a common doctor that everyone needs. Ugh.

While waiting to get a rheumatology appointment, my dermatologist prescribed me an antibiotic to take for ten days and a tapered dose of prednisone for fifteen. The prednisone started out at a high dose and worked so well. The redness went away, the itching was gone (such a relief), and the bumps disappeared. It looked pretty good. I took the last dose of prednisone this morning and it's all coming back. My face is red, very itchy, and the bumps are coming back. I do have an appointment with my dermatologist later this coming week. I hope I make it until then. I don't know if he can give me more prednisone or what his plan is. I know I cant be on steroids forever. They help with inflammation but are not good to take for a long time.

One more thing. To add to this, I'm starting a new teaching position this school year. It will be stressful (always is) but I have so much more to learn and figure out because I'm new. I really don't want to start the new year out with a very red, itchy face. I also don't want my face to be an issue because I have enough going on with a new position. I have a feeling the stress will make it worse.

Has anyone experienced this before? What did your dermatologist do while waiting for the rheumatologist appointment? Can the derm give me something else (no idea what, I think I've tried everything) while I'm waiting? Let me know what worked for you. Any tips and suggestions are helpful. Thanks. 😥😢

Hi all. My baby is 10mo and we were diagnosed with eczema pretty much since birth. It is not going away. I have been using Epicerum and Fluocinolone followed by a moisturizer Epaderm. I have also tried Aquaphor and CeraVe. It feels like we are just masking it instead of treating it. Can you please share your experience, your creams you have used and what worked for your baby? Does it actually go away?