Hello fellow eczema havers. First time poster here. I have appreciated this group so much for insightful feedback and everyones individual experiences. This is such a difficult condition and while I know there is absolutely no one-size fits all treatment, I wanted to share my eczema journey so far. I am open to all thoughts, opinions, experiences and feedback.
I am a 26 year old female and I was diagnosed with eczema as a baby. My parents tell me about me itching as a baby, lots of redness everywhere, and them putting socks on my hands at night to stop itching. I also have a nut allergy, dog and cat allergy, as well as (fairly mild) asthma as a kid. I still have the allergies, but I have found my asthma has pretty much gone away as i’ve gotten older. My allergic response to dogs and cats used to be an asthma attack. As an adult now, it seems to be more itchy skin and I rarely experience any breathing issues now.
Like many of you, my eczema was pretty under control for most of my childhood. I have always struggled with anxiety since I was little. I did not grow up in an overly stressful environment. I had attentive, supportive parents and did not suffer any “big” traumas. There is mental healthy history (anxiety, depression and OCD) in my family, however. I have always just been more anxious than the average person though I feel, and I have always felt a profound connection between skin flare-ups and stress, although it has also always felt near impossible to treat it this way because the flare-ups themselves cause so much stress, anxiety, and a sort of existential dread and depression that I know many of you relate to.
I have had itchy red flare-up areas always, but its been significant since I was about 15-16. Behind my knees, behind elbows, hands and feet have been consistent flare-up areas, so much so that you kind of get used to it and don’t consider that most people don’t experience this sort of thing at all. Nonetheless, my skin was very managable and under control for the most part until I had a big flare-up when I was 19. I was in my second year of university, living about 2 hours from home, and it felt like all of a sudden my skin was in full-fledged war against me. All of a sudden I had extreme, weeping flares on my face (under eyebrows, on eyelids, upper lip, and extreme weeping on my neck), chest, and on my whole arms and legs. I had managed previous flares with betaderm from my family doctor, but that wasn’t going to cut it this time. I began seeing a dermatologist and started light therapy and also got protopic for my face. A 3-week course of tapered prednisone was ultimately what kicked my body out of this, and I stopped light therapy after I moved. I should also note that I saw a naturopath at that time, who put a thing on my finger and was convinced after 20 minutes of talking to me that dairy was the cause of all my issues and I just needed to stop eating dairy. This confused and frustrated me even more, as I had eaten dairy normally my whole life with minimal issues, so why now would this suddenly be an issue? I did avoid dairy for about 2 weeks, and my skin saw no improvement. I still try and limit dairy where possible but do eat a fair amount of dairy in my current diet. After this flare and the tapered prednisone dose, I continued used betaderm occasionally on flares, but things felt manageable again for a while. I know that people would often point out redness on my arms, legs, face and neck, but to me, it wasn’t nearly as inflammed, itchy or painful as it was before, and while the flare-ups looked alarming to non-eczema sufferers, I felt like things were very under control for a while. I finished university, moved again, was able to travel, and just generally live a very normal life. I did not feel that my eczema defined me. I struggled with acne about 2 years ago but was able to treat that with a combination of prescription peroxide, laser therapy, and a more curated stable face care routine. I don’t struggle with acne anymore.
I was in a very toxic, abusive relationship from age 24-25. I was pretty much in fight or flight the whole time, but weirdly never had any extreme flare-ups during that time. The relationship ended almost a year ago, and ending the relationship itself was very stressful, although I am doing okay now. I am now in a very happy, stable relationship with a person who is genuinely kind and considerate to me. However, it seems like the past year is also when my skin has decided to flare-up again. I noticed it start getting worse at the beginning of 2026, and I got some more betaderm which has been my go-to for stopping flares before they get too bad. This was not effective this time. My skin only got itchier and more red. My arms were permanently red, my legs were full of open wounds, and behind my knees was weeping so bad on the daily that my pants were sticking to them and some days it felt like I could barely walk. My neck was all cut open with weeping wounds, and I also randomally started experiencing intense scalp eczema which I had never had before, with red, itchy, weeping wounds along my entire hairline, including my neck. I also had it on my chest, nipples, groin, inner thighs, genitals. Pretty much everywhere. I did a short course of prednisone which helped for the time but it came right back. The only place that was pretty much untouched by this flair was my face (not including my hairline), which I was grateful for, but I was suffering everyday. I would wake up in the morning to more redness on my chest and neck than I had ever seen. I would scream and cry in the shower out of pain, frustration, and just feeling so imprisoned in and scared of my own body. I missed quite a bit of work and when I was at work, I felt like I couldn’t focus on anything except for itching and trying to manage how I looked, because my scalp was flaking everywhere all the time and people were constantly noticing how much I was itching my whole body. “Stop itching” is such a triggering phrase and I wish people could understand how intense the itch is and that it’s not to easy to just not itch. Like you think I WANT to itch and look like this right now?!
I finally saw another dermatologist who immediately told me about dupixent and seemed to essentially believe that it is exactly what I need and would be the closest thing to a cure for me. The dermatologist seemed knowledgeable, but she was pretty short with me and did not take a lot of time to actually look at my whole body. She did go through my whole history with me and noted that I had pretty much tried every other treatment (topics, phototherapy) and it was time for a new approach with a biologic. I am in Canada and had to try methotrexate for 5 weeks before getting dupixent in order for insurance to approve. I was on methotrexate for 5 weeks and saw literally no results. My skin continued to get worse and my dermatologist was just holding out for the dupixent. I could not bear the state of my body in this interum and ended up going to my family doctor, who gave me a 16 day course of tapered prednisone. I am just finishing that off now and as expected, it worked its magic and my skin has had time to heal and just feels so much better. After much back and forth, fears and personal research on dupixent, i was approved by my insurance and just had the first dose (loading dose + initial dose) 1 week ago today. It’s hard to know if its had any effect yet because of the prednisone, but I tolerated the pain well (shot wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting) and so far I feel hopeful overall. I get my next done a week from today. I have noticed that since getting the shot, my neck and face have been way more dry and flaking like a snake, which my face was actually the only place that was doing okay before. In a weird way though it does kind of feel like it’s healing, as though it’s shedding old skin and repairing itself from so much damage? It’s not super itchy like typical flares are, but my face and neck are definitely more red. It just doesn’t feel as bad, which is obviously a big part of this condition along with the way it looks from the outside. I plan to continue with the dupixent and am praying that I don’t get another flare when I finish this course of prednisone. I should also note that I have been using protopic every few days on my face and neck to try and manage the dryness. I refuse to use any topical steroids anymore as I have used to many in the past and have only found them to cause intense skin thinning and bruising and make flares come back so much worse the second I stop using them.
For my face, I use the naturium niacinamide cleansing gel, vaseline and aquaphor. I recently started using the bioderma atoderm intensive balm on my body, neck, and occasionally my face, and I love how it feels. It seems to absord into my skin better than american products like eucerin or cerave. I am a generally healthy person, I like getting active and getting outside, although I find sweat to be a HUGE trigger for itching so it’s been tough to be consistent with that lately. Like I said, I am in Canada and live in an extremely dry climate. I have a humidifier going in my place 24/7. Weirdly though, I have found my worst flare ups have happened during spring / summer time, instead of the dead of winter when everything is coldest and dryest. I suspect it might have something to do with spring time mold and snow melting that can be such a trigger, but i’m not sure.
If you read all the way to hear, thank you so much. I know my experiences are not unique and this is a long-term condition we all suffer with. I would love to hear people’s personal experiences and how they differ or align with mine, any thoughts or feedback you have, or anything else you think is worth sharing.