Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Hand Eczema

Two months ago, I developed eczema on my hands. The skin on the palm of my hands became really itchy one day so I rubbed my hands together instead of scratching. When I looked at them, they were red and they felt hot. The only thing I thought I could do is to wash them and then put on my medicated cream. The new one that my doctor prescribed; but it never really healed until recently.

I also had eczema on the top of my right hand as well and it was itchy, dry and in some parts raised up. I thought that was it, I'm going to be stuck with that ugly right hand forever. No matter what I did to prevent myself from scratching, I end up scratching when I was working in the office. Again, I washed my hands and put on the prescribed medicated cream diligently but I didn't really see any improvement until this week. In fact, the eczema on my right hand and the palm of my hands disappeared.

So what changed? I haven't been in the office working for one week and within this one week everything began to heal. And if you look at my hands now, you would not know that I had an eczema flare up at all. It's so strange.

I know I've been less stressed out lately and that definitely must be a major reason why I healed so quickly but I wonder if I was allergic to something in the office. The air must be polluted some how or my desk was dirty? I don't know. All I know is that when I'm in the office my face feels really dry. In fact, my hands feels dry too. I seriously think there is a direct link to my eczema flare up and the office environment.

My doctor definitely thinks my eczema is stress induced. So now that I'm less stressed, my skin is eczema free again. Now it's just a matter of keeping myself moisturized.

I've been using Burt's Bees Radiance Night Cream with Royal Jelly, Burt's Bees Super Shiny Natural Lip Gloss and Burt's Bees Body Lotion with Royal Jelly with natural mica to enhance skin tone. These products are great. I actually still use my Curel Continuous Comfort Fragrance free lotion on my body but I use the Burt's Bees Body Lotion on my hands when I am out and feel my hands getting dry. The Burt's Bees products are pretty low on the hazardous scale so I'm happy about that.

The Super Shiny Natural Lip Gloss is also really great. It gives me the shine and colour I love and it moisturizes at the same time. I love it. It also smells like berries which lifts up my spirits whenever I put it on my lips.

I bought these products at Shopper's DrugMart and Walmart but you can also get them via well.ca if you just want to order them online.

Anyways, I'm glad that my eczema flare up has subsided for now. Still in search of the ultimate face cream...all natural if I can find it. So far, the Radiance Night Cream is doing the job but still feel I may find something better out there? I need something for the day...I may try the Burt's Bees Carrot Nutritive Day Creme, but I didn't buy it before because it contains almond oils to and aloe vera. I'm still cautious about trying anything with ingredients that I may be allergic to. The mention of almond oils kind of scared me off. We'll see, I may try it.

Till next time.