Happy 2013! Before I start working again and have no time to post...as you can see from my 2012 entry of only one!  I want to share with you a few products I've been using for 2012 and they have proved to be very helpful.

1. CeraVe moisturizing cream 
I really like this cream, it does not sting my skin even when I have a flare up and it's necessary for me to use a cream to moisturize my very dry skin. It's about $22 -$25 for a 453g/16oz tub. I notice my skin being more supple after a couple of days use. :) Well.ca sells it online if you want to check it out here. 


2. Lipikar BauemAP by La Roche-Posay
This body balm was recommended by these ladies who saw how dry my skin was during a really bad eczema flare up. So amongst other lotions and creams they recommended this balm for my body. I was going into Shoppers Drug Mart to get my CeraVe moisturizing cream but they told me to use this one it's better. Well, I did buy it and did use it and it's really rich but when I had a flare up it did sting a bit. So, not that it's not good but I would not recommend using it if you have a rash flare up. It was also expensive but I forgot how much it cost...maybe because it was too expensive and I didn't want to remember? Hee hee. The bottle I bought was a 400ml and it's probably around $27 or so but since it's not as effective as CeraVe for me, I still have a bit left and use it when my skin is not red with rash patches.

3. La Roche-Posay Toleriane Ultra
Okay so this one I do recommend for prepping the skin before moisturizer and I bought it actually for my really dry and flaky eyelids. Last year my eye lids got so dry and flaky it was driving me INSANE. It was so dry it cracked as well and oh my goodness, what do you put on your eyelids? Well, the ladies recommended me to this lotion because they said I could use it around my eyes and eyelids. It works, but as a primer before something else. The fact this Vaseline is what I put on thereafter and is the only thing that keeps the dry flakes away! Not going to lie, this little bottle of 40ml is not cheap...but comes in handy!


4. Eau Thermale Avene -Thermal Spring Water
This I use to spray on my face before applying any moisturizer...just helps with the absorption of the moisturizers I use. You may not need to use it but because my skin is so dry this mist of spring water helps dampen my skin and gets it ready for moisturizing! And I have one at home and one at work. The office is so dry so sometimes I spray a mist on my face and it wakes me up and helps just before I put on more moisturizer during the day.

5. Toleriane Dermo-Cleanser
I love, love, love this cleanser for my face. It really calms my itchy face down and I think at the same time it moisturizes while I clean my face!!! Some times I use it as a body cleanser. Again it's not cheap but the bottle lasts a long time, you don't have to use a lot of it. The texture is so slippery it works well when you want to give yourself a facial massage...it's awesome!
 


So, that's all for now but I think I'll still be using these products for awhile yet since I still have a lot of it...expect for CeraVe cream, I run out on that faster than the others. And always, have Vaseline petroleum jelly with me ALWAYS. My friend recently was very upset when another friend of mine and I mentioned that we use Vaseline petroleum jelly but the fact is this is the only product that really gets rid of the stubborn dry flakes from my face and lips sometimes. And the only product that gets rid of split, dry cracked lips.

Hope you are able to keep the eczema flare ups at bay! I'm keeping it at bay as much as I can but honestly the best way is to NOT each stuff you should not eat and MOISTURIZE regularly!

Hazelwood and Eczema

Hmmm, I just came across a few blogs regarding hazelwood and how it helps those who have eczema. Something about eczema suffers may have too much acidity in their system and hazelwood takes away the acidity to help clear up the rash.

Well, I'm a sucker for natural remedies and so I just bought online a hazelwood necklace...what could I lose really? I mean, it looks pretty good to just wear as jewellery. I bought this one. :) I also got a bracelet with a mixture of Amber, as Amber is supposed to help with any aches and pains. Worth trying out I think.

So I'm not sure when I'll get my delivery but I'm getting excited to start this testing and hoping it may help me keep my eczema breakouts in check. This winter weather is not helping me at all. I just put on some lotion and all I've done thus far is scratch it off. I need to stay moisturized but it's hard, I can feel the heat suck all the moisture out of my skin. My man put on the humidifier for me as he knows I get really dry and itchy without it. So sweet.

Anyways, I was so excited about this find, that I needed to record it here and to keep whoever is following me in the know. :) I will provide an update this as soon as I get to use it. Some people are saying the results are like within 24 hours of wearing it. Who knows, may help.

Oh and by the way, HAPPY 2012!!! xoxo.

Oilatum

Ah ha! How did I ever forget about this product, Oilatum bath oil. When I was working in Hong Kong for 2 years, the doctor there recommended me to this product to keep my skin moist. I had forgotten about this until I was buying my supply of Aveeno Eczema Care Cream and it was right next to it.

I'm using it again and it's working of course and helping me keep in my moisture right after my shower and before I put on my Aveeno. Though it is a bath oil, you can also use it with your sponge in the shower! So glad I found this again. Once the bathroom is completed, I can't wait to soak in it.

So if your skin is feeling dry, especially now when Fall and Winter is coming. Start looking for this. Well.ca sells this on their website and I also found mine at Walmart. :) About the same price.

Keep moisturizing! My regime seems to be working out really well for the past few months. Yipee!

Dermatologist Defends Oat-Based Emollients for Eczema : Internal Medicine News

Dermatologist Defends Oat-Based Emollients for Eczema : Internal Medicine News

Aveeno Ezcema Care Cream Update and Cetaphil Restoraderm

Wow what a beautiful Saturday, it's 26 degree Celsius outside but feels like about 30 under the sun. As you know though, with the medicated cream I'm using for my eczema, I cannot be exposed to the sun or I'll burn or goodness know what else more.

On a good note, the Aveeno Ezcema Care Cream I'm using for body moisturizer is really hydrating my skin. I'm not flaky anymore since I've started using it. Sometime I alternate between the Cetaphil Resotraderm lotion which also has ceramide as the ingredients. :) The Cetaphil is a lotion so it's not as thick and creamy as the Aveeno but it still helps. Another difference is that sometimes the Cetaphil stings my skin if it's broken, so when I am a bit rashy I won't use the Cetphil. And Cetaphil though it's moisturizing, it doesn't keep my skin as moisturized as Aveeno does through out the day. I have to reapply the Cetaphil to feel the hydrating affect.

Let's hope this moisturizing routine will continue to work when winter comes. :)

Ceramide Creams for Eczema

So I've started using Aveeno Eczema Care Cream since my last visit with my doctor. She recommended that I try Aveeno for my dry skin and I told her at the time that I've tried using it but it didn't work. However, I did go and looked for the cream and came across the special cream for Eczema, so I bought it and am using it ever since. The difference between the regular Aveeno Cream and the Aveeno Eczema Care Cream is the ingredient Ceramide. I read on the internet that some Eczema suffers benefit from Ceramides to help moisturize and heal the skin.

I've been using it for about a month now and have noticed the difference. I mean at least my skin is not flaking off and oh yes, the bad rash I had on my right hand disappeared. I'm not saying that it works all by itself, what I'm saying is that by using the Aveeno Eczema Care Cream my medicated cream was able to do it's job. My skin was so so dry that the healing never worked. I can't tell you have happy I am now looking at the top of the back of my hand. I remember sitting in my car and just bursting into tears because my hand looked like it belonged to a 90 year old lady and there wasn't anything that was working. It was so itchy, it drove me insane!!

Now, the back of my hands are not red and flaky anymore. It only took one week for the signs of healing.

Right now I'm stilling using the cream with my medicated cream and it seems that it's also helping the numular eczema spots I have. I think that's what it is. They are in spots and raised before and they are very itchy. But now, it seems they are starting to heal as well. It's taking slower but they are really nasty itchy raised spots that is also driving me nuts. However, the itchy is less intense now and I'm continually putting the cream on it and also my medicated cream. I'm hoping the raises spots will flatten...though they are very noticeable and will scar, all I really care about now is that they do not drive me nuts from itchiness.

So from this experience, I'm also looking into these ceramide based creams. This article I found recommended a few that I'm going to buy and see if they help as well. Check it out.

If you have very dry skin, you should try and see if Aveeno Eczema Care Cream will work for you. I'll let you know if the other ceramide creams are good as well or better. ;) Later.

Calendula and Herbal Medicine

So, it's been almost 5 months since my last entry and I've continued to figure out how to alleviate my eczema without having to use steroid ointments. Now, I'm not saying that I have not used my medicated creams within these 5 months but I've been trying to use less of it as I found they were not working so well anyways.

The reason why I started using calendula oil (pure calendula) is because it is 100% sting free!!! That's the ticket. I mean my skin was so raw and red that anything I used on it stung. I have so many lotions I've bought thinking because they were for sensitive skin that they would not sting but NO, they stung and hurt like hell. Keri lotion was the one that

stung me the most, which was surprising to me. :(

Basically I looked for lotions with calendula oil and Nivea has a lotion called SOS Skin Relief Body Lotion, it is really good and it really moisturizes my skin without stinging me. But that 200ml squeeze bottle is really costly..$11.99 at Shoppers and $10.99 at Walmart. However, Walmartdoesn't seem to have it in stock anymore. :( The pure calendula oil I buy is $10.29 at the Nutrition House and that is in a 30ml bottle. I use it directly on certain areas and diluted with avocado oil for overall. :0) It really does the job with moisturizing and oddly enough drying up those areas which need to dry up to get better.

The SOS Skin Relief really does work in total boby moisturizing without stinging me so I'm hopeful that it will continue to benefit my skin. Calendula oil helps with healing so that another reason why I looked for this oil in the first place. I found as I got older it was harder for my skin to heal properly...or even at all. Since I've started using Calendula oil, my skin is slowly healing in places where it never wanted to before.

Now, on the Chinese medicine. A couple of months ago my skin was so bad that nothing seemed to be working so I finally listened to my mom and saw a Chinese herbal doctor. I've been

drinking the dark, bitter and sour cup of medicine every night for the past couple of months and it's helping me clean my system I think. I'm starting to see normal skin that is not red. I'm not going to lie, the boiling of the medicine is very tedious and drinking it every night is not something I look forward to, but I'm desperate. I can't go on not sleeping at night, and every move I made hurt like hell because my skin was red and raw. It's

like even when it's raw it's still itchy and how am I to scratch that? Sometimes in the middle of the night I do scratch the raw areas and that's when hell breaks loose and I seriously just want to skin myself and replace it with someone else's beautiful skin. It's so hard to explain why I can't stop scratching to people and I'm always on edge. Makes working with others so difficult and I really want to slap myself for being impatient and bitchy sometimes at work.

I've been off for a day before the weekend and looking at my skin, it's improving day by day. The weather may have a bit to do with the recovery I think. It's not as cold anymore and Spring l

ike weather is finally here.

I'm going to continue drinking the Chinese medicine and using the lotions that seem to be working out for me. I mean if they sting I would use them and therefore stay dry and cracked. Now that I've finally found some useful lotions, I hope to continue to improve my condition.

Oh one more lotion that works, Skin Relief Body Lotion SOS but then it is with

Panthenol and Calendula. This lotion doesn't sting either and the texture feels good on my skin as well. 400ml but I forget how much it was...it's cheaper than the 200ml lotion with calendula though for sure. The texture feels a bit different from the 200ml bottle. I think the 400ml is a bit less runny/oily.

Okay, so that's what I've been using and doing to alleviate my eczema for the past 5 months. I will provide more details on further progress soon.

If you are looking for a healing and comforting remedy, I really recommend Calendula oil. :)