I want to find a cure for my eczema. For over five years I have been living with eczema. I have been through this and that and several prescriptions for eczema looking for the one that would work for me. While none of the treatments or lotions would cure my eczema I found one that would work relatively well to get rid of the ugly red patches on my hands for a while.
Unfortunately my “cure” or fix for eczema was a steroid cream. Now I am not one for using unnecessary prescriptions so I used as little as possible of the prescription steroid cream. I know that there are bad side effects from using steroids and I did not want to have other health problems such as thinning of the skin.
By the way, I did not learn that the steroid cream that the dermatologist prescribed for me could thin out my skin, especially on the face where it is thinner already. I only found this out after five years of using the steroid cream for my eczema from my general physician. I had gone into my doctor to get a refill for the prescription steroid cream because I was having another eczema flare up and I was running out of the cream.
Well it turns out that my doctor prescribed me the same steroid cream in the exact same amount made by the same company as the first prescription I had but something was different. The new prescriptions steroid cream was white and the previous one had been clear. The reason being is the steroids were in different carrier creams. Guess what the new prescription did not work while the old one that was clear and based in petroleum jelly had been working. I could not understand what the differences between the two were and why one eczema treatment worked and one did not. I just wanted to find a way to temporarily cure my eczema.
A few weeks later my eczema outbreak was gone so I no longer was concerned about the difference in the two prescriptions steroid creams. Then winter came around and I once again had the itchy, red skin associated with eczema. When an eczema breakout occurs you just want to know, how can I cure my eczema? I knew that this eczema rash would mean another trip to the doctor or dermatologist to find a treatment.
Before I went the doctor route, I again tried many new lotions each one promising relief. I have not gotten much relief from the creams and lotions that I have bought over the years. I have wasted so much money trying to find the one hand lotion that will bring my eczema some relief. From buying random lotions at the store to buying what ever anyone else with eczema recommends and most if not all have been abandoned before they are half way gone because they offer my eczema no relief.
Some time back I saw a commercial that had a lotion that was approved by the National Eczema Association. I remember at the time thinking that the association sounded made up so that this company could sell more of their products. While I was looking up what other eczema sufferers had been using for a lotion I decided to check out the National Eczema Association. I was surprised to find out that the NEA has been around since at least 1998 which means they are more legit then I gave them credit as being.
So I looked around their website for any information that would help me cure my eczema. While I was browsing their site I found out that they recommend very greasy moisturizers for eczema. The National Eczema Association specifically recommends petroleum jelly. Here is a quote, “The very best moisturizer for hand eczema is a greasy one… This turns out to be petroleum jelly, also known as petrolatum (Vaseline is one brand, and there are others as well).”
So my prescription steroid cream mystery was solved. I have gotten out my tub of Vaseline to use at night instead of the prescription. The NEA also recommends the Cetaphil brand so I bought some of their moisturizing lotion to keep beside the sink for after hand washing. While I was getting the Cetaphil from a pharmacy I also picked up a tube of petroleum jelly to keep in my purse.
I have high hopes that the National Eczema Association knows what they are talking about and that these steps will help to cure my eczema.
If you would like to learn more about the National Eczema Association and their recommendations you can click on the link in my source below.
Source:
Frances Storrs, M.D., and Susan Nedorost, M.D., “NEA Living With Hand Eczema.” www.nationaleczema.org
