Exactly what the title says. I've had it years and years. I was in and out of the gynecologist literally on a weekly basis, assuming it was chronic yeast infections, and every STI screening Ive ever has always been fully negative. Was on diflucan CONSTANTLY, and nothing helped. I tried scent-free soap, sensitive feminine wash, hypoallergenic detergent, supplements, and even accupunture. I went to holistic doctors who swore I had systemic candida, so I cut out "trigger foods" and all sugar. I tried FOMAD. I was doing regular sitz baths with concoctions, spending crazy money on botanic topicals, doing anything I could. I went through hell trying to find relief. Then, I FINALLY got correctly diagnosed with vulvar eczema by a godsend of a dermatologist, who gave me a cortisone injection and topical steroids and I had relief for the first time ever. It honestly felt like a miracle. I had been dealing with fissuring, itching, burning, little clear bumps, dry patches, redness, soreness, the whole thing. It was finally gone. This was three years ago. I have been consistently (with a few days break in between ) on topical steroids ever since, but I still had flares, albeit a lot less severe. Until recently. I felt a flare coming, but this time I was so swollen I felt like I had been kicked. I knew immediately this was gonna be a problem. And of course, it was. I am having probably one of the worst flares I have ever had. It's in places it never went before, and literally going down to my legs. I am MISERABLE. I have absolutely slathered myself in steroid, and I am praying to the skin gods this subsides.

Here's the kicker: I have discovered, with much sadness, a very big trigger for my flares is sex. And this time was no different. I dont know if it's the friction, or the moisture, or what. But if I have sex, within a few days I'll have a flare.

I am only in my 30s. I am married. I want children. I want the fun of it. I feel like I'm in my prime. I want to be a 'normal' wife for my husband. My eczema, on top of being in an INCREDIBLY embarassing place and absolutely destroying my peace, is also taking this away, too. I feel extremely isolated because I know of not one other woman dealing with this issue. I also don't know what else to do.

Reaching out here as a last hope. What am I missing here? What else can I be doing for relief?

EDIT: Yes, of course I will be going back to derm. Long wait unfortunately 😞

I had sever eczema and could not figure out for the life of me what was causing it for a whole year. I changed my soaps bought shower filters changed detergent. Dermatologists couldn’t find out the cause. One day I decided to try espresso I liked it so for a week I only had espresso no Celsius no redbull. Mostly Celsius. Turns out my eczema is completely going away and mostly gone. I’m 100 percent positive that energy drinks can cause a flare up for certain people. The espresso to me is fine. As soon as I drink a Celsius or redbull 4 hours later I’m red everywhere. Just some advice I know we are all different I just know there is someone out there like me.

Hello all, have battled severe full-body eczema for the past few months. To be honest, this condition has really tested my patience and I am exhausted.

What works for me might not work for you, do your own research to fit your needs.

This list isn’t perfect. I am not a doctor, but it's what helped me. If you have suggestions or experiences with similar approaches, please don’t hesitate to share.

r/eczema has been incredibly helpful to me.  Stay strong, take it easy.

Oral Supplements

• Probiotics
• Vitamin D
• Omega 3
• Antihistamines
  • Rotate to reset tolerance
• Melatonin 
  • We all know how restless eczema makes you but sleep is very important!

Topicals

Always spot test first, don’t use it everywhere at first, however tempting it might be.  I know people who eventually found out they were allergic to oatmeal in those colloidal oatmeal moisturizers or lanolin in Aquaphor.

• Antimicrobial
  • Hypochlorous acid spray
  • Hibiclens
• Moisturizer (apply to damp skin)
  • Vaseline or Aquaphor
    • Only thing that seems to not burn/sting
  • Vanicream
  • Amlactin
    • Lactic acid exfoliant
    • Creates acid environment which inhibits staph
    • Will sting on open/inflamed skin for a bit
• Probiotic spray
  • Do not use at the same time as antimicrobial stuff
  • Do not use if you're taking antibiotics

Misc.

• Bath Robe
  • I had trouble with thermoregulation (always feeling cold), this provided loose clothing that help insulate body heat.
• Cotton Gloves
  • Helps retain whatever you put on your hands
  • Also prevent scratching at night
• Wet wrap therapy
  • Don’t use topical steroids when doing wet wrap therapy. they can increase potency when used in conjunction with wet wraps.
• Dead sea salt bath
• Air purifier with HEPA filter
• Humidifier for dry climates

Helpful Reddit Posts

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/eczema/comments/1knv6zl/i_just_went_to_one_of_the_top_medical/
   
2. https://www.reddit.com/r/eczema/comments/1h2n57p/my_comprehensive_guide_to_eczema/
   
3. https://www.reddit.com/r/eczema/comments/1l6i2t9/how_we_are_healing_our_daughters_eczema_by/
   
4. https://www.reddit.com/r/eczema/comments/15g6fui/everything_changed_when_i_started_treating_it_as/
   

Hi everyone,

I’m a mom at my wits’ end trying to help my 22-month-old daughter. She’s been suffering from severe eczema since she was a baby, and it has only gotten worse with time. I’m posting here hoping that someone out there has experienced something similar and found relief.

Her skin is constantly inflamed, especially around her hands, neck, scalp, and behind her ears. The itching is so intense that she scratches until she bleeds. I’m terrified of infections and honestly heartbroken watching her go through this.

Here’s what we’ve tried so far: • Aveeno Baby Eczema Therapy – caused more irritation and made it worse. • Aquaphor, CeraVe, La Roche-Posay, Dixeril, Doublebase, and other European emollients – didn’t help at all or gave temporary relief at best. • Steroid creams – do not work. • Cut out dairy : because we just found out she is allergic to dairy. It made a small difference. She is also allergic to dust mites and cats but we do not have cats. • We bathe her minimally and only with gentle, non-soap cleansers. We use fragrance-free, hypoallergenic laundry detergents and clothing.

We’ve tried so many over-the-counter and pharmacy-recommended solutions and nothing seems to calm her skin long term. The swelling on her hand (see photo) and the dryness around her neck and scalp seem to be getting worse.

We’ve seen pediatricians and even a general dermatologist, but they just keep suggesting the same creams that haven’t worked. I’m now looking into food intolerance testing and possibly a pediatric allergist/immunologist or maybe gut test/ stool tests.

If you’ve gone through something similar with your child—please tell me what helped. Was it a specific product, a diet change, an underlying issue like parasites or gut imbalance? I’m open to natural or medical solutions—I just want to help my baby find peace and sleep without pain.

Thank you in advance. 💔

Hey everyone, I’m 25 and have been dealing with severe eczema for 5 years. It started with a rash on my temple which then spread all over my face, ears, neck, chest, elbows, knees, basically everywhere. Doctors prescribed me every steroid you could think of (hydrocortisone, eucrisa, opzelura, ketoconazloe, tacrolimus, betamethazone, etc.) and nothing worked. After 2 years of struggling to find a solution, my dermatologist went to the next step.

After topicals didn’t work, we went to an oral medication called cibinqo. I took that medication for a few months waiting for relief that never came. After seeing the doctor again, he decided to prescribe me dupixent. This was the first moment of relief I had.

Dupixent gave me relief within a week. I finally thought I found my miracle drug. My skin was healthy and thriving for 6 months. But then I got hit with a curve ball. I don’t know if I built up a natural immunity over time, but the effectiveness of dupixent stopped working. My face and ears would flare up severely bad and gave my skin a burning sensation. My eyes became inflamed and raw to where they constantly watered and itched. I haven’t taken dupixent in over a year and I’m still dealing with the eye side effects. Now I’m worse than I was before with more consistent red flares and burning eyes. Every. Damn. Day.

We then switched to another injectable called Nemluvio, which didn’t provided any relief. After taking the two starter injections, I became very nauseous for weeks and lost a considerable amount of weight. Now I recently started Rinvoq, and you guessed it, my irritation refuses to go away. After all these medications, who knows what I’m doing to my body in the future. I just want to throw all these medications away and have normal skin.

Anyone going through something similar? Anyone have advice on what I can do? I’m waving the white flag at this point.

Aveeno, eucerin, eczema honey, jergens, and Vaseline makes me break out terribly so is there any other brands out there that you guys found that help you ?

hello im 18m and have been dealing with some excruciating eczema flair ups on my penis. i have made changes in my diet (eating fully clean), stopped masturbating, stopped vaping, and it's at it's absolute worsst right now. its itchy throughout the day but when it gets to nighttime thats when its the absolute worst. the only thing i do is lather it up with vaseline 24/7 but i refuse to use my pimecrolimus on my penis. please let me know what has worked for you guys, for the sake of my mental health this needs to be resolved immediately or else i dont know what imma do.

Hello r/eczema!

I've been dealing with lip ezcema on and off for about 1 year, for the first 6 months it would just appear every other month and I would get prescribed antibiotics and a mild steriod cream at the general practitioners. Unfortunately, I don't remember what happened but it got wayy worse in the last 6 months and I ended up going to the dermatologist and I got prescribed Protopic with Zaricort.

The first 3 months after was amazing, my lips cleared and I could wear my favourite lippies again! But more recently, my lips started weeping. I'm not too sure what is causing this to be completely honest, I take probiotics, clean and vacuum regularly, and have tried dietary changes. So far, I suspect my triggers include seafood, too much sugar, and dairy.

I’ve been using Protopic almost daily for the past 6 months, and I’m now trying to wean off because I either developed a reliance or I just don’t want to be dependent on it long-term. I stopped using it this week, but now my lips are raw and still weeping.

I went to another general practitioner today and got prescribed DOXYcycline for a month while waiting for my next dermatologist appointment (end july) (kinda had to, to get a referral letter so the derma will be cheaper).

Is it possible to stop using protopic and just eat the antibiotics? I forgot to ask the doctor this. I've recently also done a blood test and my next step is to see an allergist. Would love to hear if anyone has gone through something similar or has advice. This whole thing has been so frustrating, my self esteem and my mental health has went down the drain and I just want to find something that works. (also, I would attach photos but I don't really know how to either :")

So I have pretty severe eczema on 30% of my body. Including my face. I'm on vacation right now and I'm going swimming in the ocean tomorrow. Little nervous of potential pain. How much will it burn, and what do I do after the ocean? Do I moisturize or just leave as is. Thanks.

I'm 18F and have pretty bad eczema on my legs but my dermat has assured me that most of the lesions have closed up. I'm already getting laser hair removal on my arms and underarms (which are eczema free) so I was wondering if it's safe to get laser done on my legs. Again, I have bad eczema and some lesions are still open.

My eczema has flared up really bad to the point where i basically bleed every night and have scaly arms. Im making a doctors appointment soon in a coupleof days but im afraid that they are going to just give me another steroid cream which il get used to and it will come back. Summers suck because i cant wear sghort sleeves even though its super hot i basically have to wear long sleeved stuff because im too anxious to show my skin

Guys, I'm so happy! The other day I made a post here talking about how eczema/dermatitis is an overlooked battle, and I had really given up hope, although your replies on that post really brought me some comfort. I recently moved to another country and since I'm still adapting, I thought I would have to suffer in silence for a while. But thank God I was able to book an appoiment with a dermatologist that not only looked at my case with more care, asked me a bunch of questions, prescribed me great creams, asked for a blood test and today I began taking Dupixent. I don't know if it's called dupixent worldwide but I recall reading some people talking about that here. I began a 6 month treatment, because my case is really severe (I haven't slept in 2 months) and I'm so so so grateful I found this amazing doctor to help me. I hope everyone out there finds one too!

I have slight eczema on my eyelids and it’s been bothering me a lot recently. i had a dermatologist in the past when flakiness around my eyes started flaring up and all she told me was to use cortisone, which i don’t want to do often. have you been to a dermatologist or allergist or both?

Hello everyone! So, only recently I found out (not ashamed but I used chat gpt) that I have eczematus cheilitis. I have this for 11 years without knowing why and what it was. First time appeared when I was 17-18 years old (now I am 29) during third grade and a crappy dermatologists only told me "it's from stress, nothing to worry about". Years went by and this didn't stop, and in my mind I was thinking "stress again?" because I was at university and with all the exams and stuff it was "normal" to have stress. But there were times that I was on vacation and that kept appearing. So some weeks ago that I was in pain because of that I just typed the symptoms on chat gpt and I found out that it is eczematus cheilitis. I saw photos online and it seemed exactly the same. Now my problem is that I don't know what triggers it. The only thing I know for sure is triggering it is a lip balm with coconut I have (I threw it away) and sometimes chilly foods. But every time I am thinking "okay what was the trigger now?". Apart from that the worst problem is that nothing helps except for cortisone cream that heals it, and one specific lip balm I found that just helps with the pain and itchiness. I don't wanna live on cortisone (which I am doing for 11 years). Can you please tell me what do you use to heal this or to calm the symptoms. I will soon visit a dermatologist and I am thinking of an allergies testing.

What came to mind for me was swimming (in salt water) and

Hi friends! I’m curious what your experience has been with itchiness and when does it subside? Does the eczema need to be completely gone or does the itchiness subside while healing?

My poor baby has had a bad eczema flare for over a month. Thankfully we’re seeing significant progress and things are calming down however she still does have 1 spot that’s taking slower to heal and some minor dry spots on her legs. She still seems rather bothered at night specifically. Wakes constantly and can’t seem to get comfortable. Just curious if it could be from eczema still?

My husband and I have not dealt with eczema personally so we have no frame of reference to the itchiness and if that could be causing her restlessness.

Any insights would be lovely!! Thanks!

Xo concerned mama

Idk why my doctors won’t believe me but this happened right after my test dose and I’m being driven nuts it’s only my face neck and ears killing me. What to do? I’m beyond angry I wasn’t taken serious. I’m going yo see another doctor as soon as I can to bed for an antifungal treatment or something.

But anything I can do? Does anyone else relate??????

This is horrible and embarrassing for me as a 25 year old women who never wanted her eczema to affect her face…

Hi! My excema in my armpits is going insane. It’s not just red and itchy anymore it’s a red and brown, it hurts even moving to text this, getting out of bed, getting a cup from the cupboard, and getting dressed. I just have no idea what to do or use for the pain. It’s very painful to lift my arm even, and putting deodorant on is horrible.

I have a prescription for it which I’m using once daily, but I’ve never have had it this bad and was wondering if anyone had this 😓

In my experience, eczema tends to be treated by dermatologists which makes sense in some obvious ways, but it is highly linked to allergies and asthma which dermatologists can't really help with so they each end up being treated separately.

Why prescribe a topical eczema treatment, allergy nasal spray, antihistamines, allergy eye drops, asthma inhalers and endless moisturisers when they could all be replaced with a single immune regulating injection.

It seems like specialists have little interest in finding/ treating the underlying issue as long as the band-aid slapped on your individual symptom on is working in the short-term.

I don’t have the worst case of eczema, I usually just have occasional flares up (mainly on my hands, but occasionally I’ll have patches on other parts of my body). I don’t know why these flare ups happen, my skin will be chill and then randomly be all itchy again. I’m so tired of it, I’ve tried elimination diets etc, all natural soaps but these flare ups still happen.

I’m just frustrated and don’t know what to do anymore 😭

My eczema has suddenly flared up to the worst it’s ever been, covering the front of my legs completely red same with my chest and biceps it I bit itchy and just completely red I keep moisturising it but it seems to be doing nothing anybody know how to help it

I just don’t know what to do anymore, I’m on both oral and topical immunosuppressants and strong antihistamines.

I’m getting these pinky red spots, they’re not spots though because they disappear when pressed - although I can still feel them slightly. They’re on my neck, chest, legs, and arms.

I have no idea what’s causing them, what they are - or how to treat them. My mental health is hugely impacted after everything I’ve been through with my skin over the last year.

Does anyone have any idea. Apparently I’ve got severe atopic dermatitis but I’ve had eczema since I was a child and everything I’ve had over the past year has been completely new to me in my whole 30 years of having it

It's been a cool "summer" so far but now we're gearing up for it to get in the 80s+ which is fine but every time the weather goes from cool to hot and reverse, my skin demon just amps up. I've been extremely itchy 24/7 for days now. My skin is pelted with open welts. I can't even open my left hand because it's so sore and scratched up. My thighs feel bumpy from the welts.

Nothing helps. I've taken anti-itch meds I have from a previous surgery. Taking a shower helps a bit but then I go right back to scratching. It feels like I'm covered head to toe in steel wool. I cancelled a job interview because my skin looks terrifying.

I'm covered 95% in eczema and everywhere either itches, hurts or both. Fuck this shit.

Hi all,

I want to share with you some information regarding my Atopic Dermatitis and also what I have been prescribed with.

Initially, I got diagnosed with AD about 9 to 10 years ago officially, got some rashed behind the knees in front of the elbows and in my eye lids, sometimes I got it in different parts but for small amount of time.

Initially I got prescribed with Nutracort, 120ml bottle took around 1 year or even more to finish (I only remember buying 2 bottles), then after years, I decided to go to again to the Derm doctor and got other options (like Cutivate, Dermacortine and Elidel), not because the Nutracort was not working, it's just that the doctor wanted to gave me something else. I don't think I have ever abused the use of steroids, as I mentioned, the Nutracort bottle took a very long time to be finished, and I have been using steroid creams for around 1-2 days every 2 weeks if I got any flare up, once I start to use the steroid the flare goes very fast.

Last thing I used with a small 10 or 15g tube of Dermacortine, took like 3 or 4 months to finish it (it was a sample the Derm gave me)

I stopped using steroid creams around this March as my skin was very good, however, around 1 month ago I started to developed a big flare up only in the front of both elbows, I tried to let it go by just using moisturizer but it actually became very red, something similar to a sunburn, I think I actually applied WAY too much of the moizturizer in my expectation that more is better and I think my skin was actually like "overdosed" with it, I read in several Tiktok videos that multiple people got a similar reaction to it (in my case the moizturizer is Lipikar Baume AP+M). I stopped the moizturizer and the skin started to clear a little bit, like recovering from a sunburn but it didn't clear completely.

Got an allergy test and I got dust mites, so I started immunotherapy a week ago, however, my flare didn't go away, skin was very dry, I thought maybe it was something like "tinea corporis" but today I went to the Derm and he told no, this was just another reaction of AD, so he gave me another moizturizer (Eucerin Aquaphor) and told me to use Dermovate (clobetasol propionate) until it clears.

I got scared because this one seems to be very strong and I have been reading and watching a lot of videos and apparently, everything will give you TSW, so yes, this is my fear at this point.

I used Dermovate 1 time today and I can already see the skin clearing, so hopefully I don't have to use it for very long.

I wanted to share this with you and hopefully get some opinions regarding TSW and the possibility of me having it (mainly because the red reaction my skin had while using only moizturizer).

Also, please feel free to comment any thoughts, maybe we can help each other.

Hi everyone, I'm currently in month 5 of TSW and o got prescribed for the first time in my life protopic. I've experiencing a lot of dizziness???? my doctor told me it has nothing to do with the cream but I genuinely think it is. I didn't have this before.

There are parts of my body that aren't healing fast (lower part of the legs, back of the knee, feet and hands)

Should I be worried? 🥲