Does anyone here have any experience with treating dishydrotic eczema? It's probably related to MCAS (which is officially undiagnosed because I told my GP my symptoms and she was like, "Yeah, that certainly sounds like mild MCAS, but there are no allergists on the NHS in the Lothians so what am I supposed to do about it?") and the itching is driving me mildly insane.
The entire first joint of my right index finger is swollen and blistered and I've been using a low dose hydrocortisone cream on it, but this time it's not helping at all and I'm tempted to just cut that finger off.
I know this post is pretty old, but it’s one of the first ones that comes up when you search up dishydrotic eczema on here so I’m reblogging any way
I’ve had dishydrotic eczema for most of my life (it took about 4 years to diagnose) and I’ve absolutely been at the “I just want to cut the finger off” point before. There is frustratingly little I’ve found that helps but I have found a few things.
NUMBER ONE: HEAT MAKES IT WORSE AND COLD MAKES IT BETTER. This is the opposite from most other kinds of eczema so it gets confusing but the cold reduces pain and itching. When it gets really bad, full water with ice works better than ice packs.
2. If possible try to figure out if it’s an allergic reaction (obviously this doesn’t apply as much if you suspect MCAS, but for other things). Allergens were triggering most of my flare ups and cutting them out has helped a ton. For me they were both things that were going directly on my skin like fragrance.
3. Keep your hands dry when possible. I’m sure there’s a scientific reason but having wet hands for long periods of time makes things worse. Personally I wear rubber gloves when I do the dishes and when I had to wear latex gloves for work all summer I put on cotton gloves underneath to keep the moisture off.
4. Always always always put something like petroleum jelly on over anything weeping like blisters before putting some kind of covering on for long periods of time (bandaids, gloves, etc). Trust me it’s a sensory nightmare but it getting stuck to raw skin hurts so fucking bad that I do it any way.
5. When it comes to actual treatments that make it go away, I’ve really only had success with steroids and steroid creams (like clobetasol). CeraVe lotion also does help with the weird dryness it comes with.
6. (Not really a dealing with it tip but just a thing to know) Your nails will probably get fucked up. This also sucks but it does go away with enough time after a flare up.
Dishydrotic eczema sucks so fucking much and it’s not known about enough and you probably will get the same annoying questions, it can eventually return to okay. 💚
