As a child every summer I suffered from eczema on the inside of my elbows and the backs of my knees.  This combined with hayfever resulted in an inabilty to comprehend why people would always go on about summer being the best time of year, whilst I was always looking forwards to it's end! 

This pattern generally repeated itself every year and was made bearable with the use of hydrocortizone creams and antihistamines.  However the hydrocortizone has made the skin more sensitive to the sun and also thinned the skin so is not an ideal solution to the problem.  I had an association of the summer months with feeling dizzy and tired, which after many years I eventually realised was a result of taking the antihistamines.

When I got to nineteen and started to go through a particularly difficult time at school the eczema got much worse, starting as a small circle on the inside of my wrist and gradually spreading down one arm across my shoulders, neck and on to the other arm.  For the first time it was happening in the winter! I started to have patches of dry skin on my cheeks, eyelids and cracks in the corners of my lips which made wearing make-up unbearable and washing in any water, hot or cold made the skin on my body burn like mad. 

As a dancer living in London I was having to take class everyday in a leotard and I felt very self-concious of all the red patches on my body and face.  Particularly as the dance teacher would come and ask me about the marks on my arms and what I was doing about them.  I also felt helpless as antihistamine injections, visits to specialists on Harley Street and blood tests failed to yealed results.  I wore gloves at night to try and stop myself from scratching but would just take them off in my sleep and wake up scratching the skin red raw.  Even the hydrocortizone cream didn't seem to be doing the job and every cream stung my skin that I tried to put on.

One doctor I saw gave me unscented moisteriser in huge white tubs but I didn't believe that it would work and didn't even want to put on the scent free emollient because it still hurt my skin.  I did use the gloopy thick white products anyway but they didn't cure the problem, merely made washing bearable.  I saw a nutrition specialist and was drinking aloe vera juice and cutting out dairy to see if that had any effect.

Eventually summer came and I moved to Estonia where luckily, life became much less stressful.  The skin problem didn't disappear but I felt much happier.  One day I was researching eczema on-line and I came across an article that finally gave me practical advice on managing my eczema.  It explained how important it was to moisterise within 2 minutes of getting out of a bath or shower or the moisteriser lost it's impact.  Perhaps even more importantly I discovered that the beautiful singer Leanne Rimes also suffered from eczema that sounded very similar to mine.  You know that other people suffer from eczema in the world but I had never met fellow sufferers before.  I don't like to admit it but eczema made me feel self-concious and ugly.   To hear that this successful and beautiful person lived her life with it too made me feel a lot more positive about how I could go forwards with mine.

One of the problems was that the ugly doctor moisturiser made me feel as miserable as the eczema.  It was scent free, but somehow smelt horrible too.  I decided to experiment with different moisturisers, my main aim being to find one that I actually wanted to cover my face and body with but didn't sting too much.  The best purchase I made was face and neck Garnier 24hr Nourishing Day Cream for dry and sensitive skin.  Admittedly it stung a little bit on very sensitive patches like my eye-lids but it was bearable and I only used a very thin amount to begin with.  It was pretty and pink and I actually wanted to use it.  I applied it everytime the skin on my face touched water straight away.  It made a difference!  A real difference.  I started to realise that my skin was lacking a lot more moisture than I had ever imagined.

I bought moisturising creams that were for sensitive skin on my body but smelt and felt gorgeous.  So gorgeous I didn't mind spending time covering my body in it everytime I jumped out the shower. 

It may sound simple and obvious but it changed my life.  The dry patches went away.  The eczema went away.  I could move the skin on my face again.  I could wear make-up.  Even more moisturisers didn't sting when I applied them.  I realised that moisturiser could help, but I had never realised the extent to which I needed to apply it, or that whilst it doesn't cure the problem, it could almost erradicate the symptoms.  I didn't realise that covering myself in moisturiser would make so much more of a difference than putting a normal amount on my skin.  I have to apply moisturiser literally every time I touch water with any part of my body from the waist up.  I'm crazy about dry skin now and have to moisturise anything that feels vaguely dry immediately.  It's a small price to pay to have your self-confidence back.

I feel more aware of my self-image now than I ever was before but consequently I feel so much more beautiful than I ever did.  Having soft skin makes me feel so good, I don't need much else to feel confident.  I take much better care of myself in general and am a much happier person.  I now see fashion and beauty products not as a superficial waste of money but as an aid to positive thinking and a natural extention of good health and looking after yourself.

If you suffer from eczema I do hope that this article has helped in some way.  I know that there are so many different extents of the problem and much worse experiences than mine.

For help and information on eczema go to the National Eczema Society at http://www.eczema.org/

for tips on how to care for skin with eczema click here