Drying out
This is the backwards approach that seems to be helping my skin significantly. As you know from reading the other posts, I treat myself like my own little test subject. Tweaking here or there, trialling this or that. Be it diets, lotions and potions, mitts, different regimes or theories. I am giving it a go.
The latest idea to cross my brain was from an observation, as many good experiments start. I noticed my poor old neglected legs were the best large skin area on my body. They receive no special treatment, in fact, no treatment at all. No moisturiser, no steroid creams, no natural ointments or lotions. At times they look a little dry and get a light coat of a light moisturiser but that maybe once a week at most.
Regarding the rest of my body, my arms have been having weird spots like a staph infection, my forehead the same except these end up needing to be popped. My forehead was red and dry with flaky patches around the temples, above my eyebrow and along the hairline and a spot of rubbing damage on my cheek was particularly bad. My torso and upper arms appeared a little dry yet undamaged, despite the occasional rash on my chest. It had been this way for some time.
Historically, these areas were bathed in moisturisers multiple times per day, trying to keep the skin looking presentable, stop it drying out and to hopefully help it heal. This involved medium and greasy moisturisers, natural ointments being applied regularly and steroid creams occasionally.
My thought came to me, that maybe, I am turning my forehead into a personal Petrie dish. Warm, moist and perfect for growing bacteria. Also, am I confusing the body with the overindulgent application of moisturisers, to the point that my skin feels it is already oily and saturated, and so does not produce any more naturally.
Either way, the plan was to slowly pull back on applying these greasy moisturisers to my sensitive face, neck and chest. Instead, I would apply a light moisturiser only to all areas, just enough to stop the initial feeling of dryness. A light coat after the shower or bath for all but the legs and forearms and that was it. Normally I would lather up and put heaps on to “soak in”, which it often did over 2-10 min. I would apply a little more in places I thought might crack due to the dryness and damage later, but only sparingly.
Mentally this was tough at times, especially in relation to my face. I have worked hard my whole life to hide my eczema. To try to fake like i had “normal” skin. The face is such a visible area of skin and a focus for most attention. I deliberately went through a period of allowing my face (particularly forehead) of flaking off the old damage as it healed over about a 2 week period. Normally I would have lathered it up to hide the dry flakes. A couple of places, right temple, above my right eyebrow and on my right cheek, felt like they were going to crack and then require more healing so go the occasional light touch up or thin application of a greasier ointment. I was careful to only apply where I thought not doing it may result in worse damage.
The first to improve was my forearms. Joining my legs in becoming resilient to the world without moisturiser. Then my torso, upper arms and back started to come right. Fewer spots, less rash, and skin appeared to be holding its own. Where there was damage such as scratches, the area felt dry and even itchier. I would apply the minimum I thought I could get away with and only to the scratch or rubbed area itself, not the surrounding skin. Eventually, these healed up as well and joined the resilient party.
At this point, it has been about 3 weeks and just my face and neck that now show signs of eczema and dry skin. The spots have all but gone. As they healed and receded, they left a damaged layer of skin on top that eventually peeled off like a sunburn. It was hard mentally not to lather up or scratch this area as it healed, but worth it when it finished healing and the dry damaged skin has fallen off. By my right temple still appears a little leathery, and I get the odd dry spot, especially on my forehead from last bits or new little bits of damage. I resist lathering up and overreacting with greasy creams or ointments, and this looks to be working. Without wanting to put the mockers on me, this has been the most stable and treatment minimal period of my skin in over two years. I still have the occasional bleach bath, I still bath with lukewarm water and gently pat down with a flannel or hand towel only to leave the skin moist and ready for a quick moisturising. This helps prevent drying out between the bathroom and bedroom where I moisturise.
I have tried an approach like this before but it failed. I went too far to fast and it backfired on me. Overnight, I completely stopped all moisturisers, lotions and potions to all areas. This resulted in dry, itchy skin over large areas of my body. Damaged skin areas cracked and so took longer to heal and were more vulnerable to further damage. These cracked areas cried out to be scratched and eventually, they got it. This resulted in an ever-descending spiral of itchiness and scratching, creating more damage, itchiness and scratching. And so it went on.
This time, the weening off was slower. I slowly reduced the moisturiser to the undamaged skin, down to a time amount lightly brushed over to prevent dryness until the skins natural oils took over over the space of a week. I allowed the feeling of my skin to dictate the speed and how little I could get away with. The healing and skin flaking was allowed to continue naturally. This was hard given I had just started a new job, but it was important to me to get through it. Gradually the damaged areas requiring a little more attention healed, flacked off and reduced. Now there are days I don't even moisturise except for my face.
I am slowly working on my face joining the rest of my skin but there are some stubborn damage patches that appear to boil up from underneath. The problem for my skin from scratching outweighs the issues from moisturising, so I moisturise if I need to stop scratching, but I don't drown my skin. I am prepared to put many light coats on if needed instead. So far this has not been required nearly as often as I thought.
I need to make sure I still try to stop scratching and doing damage to my skin. This is easier as my skin is not as soft and there my skin is in a clearer condition. Ice packs and a little moisturiser or an antihistamine instead. I also need to make sure I continue to wear my mitts to bed regularly to stop any nighttime damage. Again, these are more effective because my skin is more resilient.
I know this approach will not suit everyone, and another flare-up may be just around the corner, but find out what works for you. It may be as counter-intuitive as what I have found. Please let me know what works for you.