Well every blog needs a first (and for the most part usually quite an awkward) post so here is mine haha
I've have eczema since young and can always remember this slab of itchy red skin on my right foot. It was super annoying and I was always embarrassed to go barefoot at school for fear that my friends would see it and would think it weird. Not even mentioning the amount of itchiness that I would experience - at times I would just stand on the spot and use my left foot to rub over it just to make the itchiness go away. The only real amusement that I ever got from it was when it looked just like the outline of Australia and I remember pointing it out to my mum - I was quite proud to have spotted it and to be able to show off my geographic knowledge haha.
Apart from that spot on my right foot, it was only ever on the inside of my elbows or knees. Compared to what I'm having now I must say that the eczema I had then was blissfully simple.
However cut forward to a 17-18 year old kid/young man and it started to show up on my face. Looking back I'm more confident that this must have been the result of some contact allergens or something I ate for it to flare up. Naive as I was, I started applying very strong steroid cream on my face to get rid of it (as per the dermatologist's instructions). That made it go away very quickly but then acne hit and it soon became a balancing act between applying (the usually oily) eczema cream to get rid of this eczema and then doing something to combat the acne that resulted.
A year back or so I started having a red face permanently. Now this clearly worried me as I had no idea what was causing it and to be honest it wasn't so bright to have made me feel that worried. After months of trailing various diets, lifestyle changes and whatnot I stumbled upon ITSAN's website and everything finally made sense! Man what a relief to finally have a very feasible explanation behind what I was experiencing and to know that I'm not the only out there with a permanent face that looks as though I've had a few too many beersies (for the confused out there that's kiwi slang for beers haha)
SOOooo here I am, about 1 month into the withdrawal from topical steroids and my body is itching like crazy! Even without mentioning the constant snowflakes that fly from my body every time I scratch, it's starting to keep me awake at night with the constant itch. Having said that, I've still continued to apply it on my face because if I allowed eczema to start on it, the world would lose its most valuable asset.
NAWww just kidding. I need my face eczema clean for the time being because I'm currently doing a summer internship and it is largely client facing. The semi drunk redness is still there but that can't be helped for now. As soon as the internship is over I intend on completely stopping any steroid on my body.
Apart from the obvious physical itchiness and occasional embarrassment, the eczema has definitely had an impact on how I interact with people and how I look at myself. But I'll leave that to another day aye.
Right now all I'm looking forward is just to have back my normal skin before this whole thing started. And at the same time trying to keep positive though out the whole period because like it or not, this whole experience is like when a bird shits on your car window. After driving through the rain, wind and sunshine, you'll find that it's been wiped clean off your window. This eczema has already been shitted on my window and once I go through the rainy weather, I know that it'll be gone. Normality! (On hindsight that's probably not the best analogy but I'll stick with it for lack of a better one haha)
For those who are still not clear on whether they should go through with stopping, or for those currently in the process, I want to encourage you to confidently go through with it. Just think of what your skin will be like at the end of the whole process! And for those who have gone through it, feel free to drop a comment of encouragement. A little bit of encouragement can go a long way =)
Until next time~
