My Name is Sara and I Suffer From Eczema

Polysporin-eczema-essentials-daily-moisturizing-cream_0

Today’s post was sponsored by me and my 1,000,000 skin ailments.

Once upon a time I would have sworn that I didn’t have sensitive skin of any kind. I could use any face wash, no face wash, or sleep in makeup after being too drunk to wash it. I wouldn’t burn in the sun.

I have actually  had only one minor sunburn in my life and that was when we went Barbados while Tom’s looked like a lobster. People aren’t lying when they tell you that the sun near the equator is more potent.

Then something happened when I got pregnant at 24. Like I mentioned in a previous post, my skin went haywire. Acne, rashes, dry skin, and then one Christmas Tom gave me a beautiful ring. A diamond with a white gold band. Shortly after I started wearing it I noticed my hand was getting itchy.

Then it started to get blisters and sore with a rash spreading down my hand. One day I woke up and it was on my legs and far worse there than my hands.

Nothing I tried got rid of it.

It was so, so itchy. Itching it made it worse, but I swear scratching it felt better than sex. So of course I scratched and made it worse. It took me longer than it should have to recognize a connection with the ring.

At that time I never had issues with any metals so it wasn’t in the forefront of my mind. I wish it had been, it could have saved a lot of wasted time and money.

During this time Tom was still working as a goldsmith and he recognized the reaction. He brought the ring to work and called the company from which he got the band to ask them what the nickel content was.

I didn’t know that white gold could cause a reaction due to nickel until that point. Apparently some companies have higher nickel content and this is where you run into problems if you have sensitive skin.

When in doubt, stick with high carat gold or platinum.  After figuring out what was causing the issues I obviously stopped wearing the ring.

I also went to the doctor to get something to help the itching and promote healing and he diagnosed me with yet another ailment. Eczema.

The doctor said I started off with a reaction to the nickel but somewhere along the way it sent my skin into a hyper reaction and an immune response which flared up as eczema.

That is why my legs ended up being worse, and they hadn’t even had any contact with the nickel. No over the counter medications worked for me and it only went away when we went on vacation to Barbados.

I think it was the combination of strong UV and high humidity that did it. That obviously would be an expensive treatment every time you had a flare up though.

I got lucky and have not suffered another bad flare up until this past September. I got a bug bite and from there once again I went into a hyper reaction.

I thought we had bedbugs at first and it scared the shit out of me because that is one of my nightmares. But in November I accepted that this was happening again and tried to deal with it.

My mom sent me a link to a new product by Polysporin that was specifically for Eczema. They have several products but the only one that I bought was the Eczema Essentials Daily Moisturizing Cream.

I was too broke ass to buy more than one at that time because it was during our “before Christmas unexpected expenses” time. It worked. That stuff worked better than anything I had previously tried. I won’t say that it got rid of it entirely, but it did keep it somewhat contained and gave me itching relief. That in itself was a godsend.

I told Tom that we would have to move someplace that it rained a lot because the humidity in the air really helps my skin. I suggested moving to Dublin, he suggested buying a humidifier.

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Sara

Sara is the founder and creative behind livelovesara. A George Brown College Fashion Styling Graduate, she provides advice on finding your personal style regardless of age and budget. She is always on the hunt for the perfect wardrobe piece and is a vintage and thrifting enthusiast who can't wait to share her newest finds. She is also trying to learn French.

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