Mrs Hairychested has developed some eyelid eczema. Is there anything that will get rid of the condition? Our GP suggests steroids cream, no bloody way! Ideally it'd be natural as she's allergic to loads of stuff.
Thanks!

my old man takes aloe vera gel (orally) for eczema on his hands- helpsloads. make sure it is decent quality (100% aloe gel) HTH

I have eczema that ranges from manageable to necessitating time off work. TBH the tiniest smear of steroid cream will sort the eyelids, but I mean the TINIEST. It is potent stuff. My skin is damaged from 35 years of use, so my advice is use it, but go easy.

Given that a lot of eczema is due to allergy response, the best long term approach is to minimise the exposure to the irritant. Not easy, believe me, I know…

Why not steroid cream? It's the only thing that sorts out my skin, and if it's on eyelids I assume you want it gone pronto. You could always use it for a short time to sort it out then try other stuff to see if it keeps it at bay.
I've tried pretty much everything else but nothing works as well as my hydrocortisone cream.
Diet can help a lot, I've heard that cutting out dairy foods can be really beneficial but I'd rather live with it as I love ice cold milk and bourbon creams too much!!

I'd strongly urge you to get looked at by a dermitologist. My GP diagnosed me with 'eczmea' around my eyes, and suggested steroid cream…. this then went on for two years with it not really clearing up but every time I stopped the cream, it'd flare up, so I went back to the cream….

Finally went to a dermitologist who diagnosed peri-oral dermititus (but aroud the eye rather than the mouth, so peri-orbital http://dermnetnz.org/acne/perioral-dermatitis.html) and expressed quite a bit of surprise i'd been given steroid cream for the eye. Turns out that was the worse possible tihng I could have been given as the dermitius is agrevated by the steroid cream (hence it lasted two years) but also flares up when you remove it. So I stopped the cream and started taking some lymecycline that got rid of it in about 6 weeks…. unfortunately I had to endure 3 weeks of a massive flare up (think both sides of my face bright red and disgusting), which only died down 2 weeks before my wedding….(phew).

So basically, get a professional to look at it and don't use steroid cream on your face!

PS. Take a look at http://dermnetnz.org/sitemap.html as recommended by said dermitologist it has lots of helpful pictures to let you see what you've got…

TO get to the root of the problem, it will be a matter of monitoring all products used – soaps, shampoos, moisturisers, makeup, mascara, and finding if there are any allergies to any of them.

If still no avail, then may have to look at diet.

Maybe it cold be lack of Iron in diet (just remember, being a vegetarian does make you live longer – it just seams longer).

Or the option I would recommend – Hydrocortisone cream. Use it for a few days and it will sort it out straight away. As long as you don't use it as a ongoing cream (can thin use skin from prolonged use)

http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/hc45-hydrocortisone-cream_1_4327.html

Go with Ewan and some of singlespeed.
Had eczema most of my early years when there was not the range of meds there is now.

Has she changed any of her beauty products, ie mascarra? Has her hair dresser changed products? What does she do for work, any material, product changes?

My wife has psoriasis which is wores that eczema and any change in product recipes in any of the above can have disasterous consequences.

Daughter is bad with eczema.

Mate at work is also bad and gets aquapuncture and head amssages 1pmth to ease symptoms.

The dairy product thing is as evidenced by all of us is a bit of a red herring imo and mates. I lived/worked on farms for most of my pre work days and drank milk straight from the cow, ate loads of cheese and all other dairy related products, still do without any problems.

Wife & daughter use E45 cream to keep skin moist

Wife also use; http://www.bio-oil.com/uses.html

and; http://www.dermalogica.com/uk/#/home

You can also get E45 with a small amount hydrocortisone in it.

Get the steroid cream – it works wonders. Moisturise lots and avoid potent cleansing products.

When I lived in the alps they gave me some weaker cream for my face – can't remember what it was called but it worked well too.

Have you tried looking at diet?
I cut out dairy completely [now I must admit to having the odd treat] but cutting out dairy has completely stopped any eczema or asthma that I used to suffer from.
Eczema + asthma seem to be affected by dairy intolerance.

I love ice cold milk and bourbon creams too much

You know that most bourbon creams have no dairy in them at all, right? My brother's a vegan and bourbons are part of his staple diet.

Probably worth seeing the doc or dermotologist if possible. I thought I had eczema, as did the doc first time round. I got some cream to put on it which didn't work too well. The doc then decided it was psoriasis and gave me some other stuff to put on it which clears it up really quick when it flares. I think it's a steroidal cream of sorts.

I had that on my eyelids a few years ago. Plenty of moisturiser (aqueous cream) sorted it out (and washing immediately after any exercise, since sweating causes my skin to dry up).

I'm with TimS on this one – after regular trips to docs I ended up (luckily) with a locum who actually knew about skin conditions.

She basically said get some plain aqueous cream and pile it on (had it all over face though not serious). She even said 'wash' with it. I looked a fool with white cream all over for about 10 mins then it all absorbed in.

Kept repeating and kept moist for a while until skin healed. Never had a problem since.

Oh, and if you ever get on hands, use the cream (and/or steroid cream) at night and put some plastic gloves on – like the ones you get in petrol station to keep diesel off you. Works a treat.

Doc also said you've got to be using a lot of steroid cream before you really have to start worrying about thinning the skin, if that was your concern.

I suffer from Ezcema and I find not eating peanuts helps considerably, but when it gets bad I do use the cream and it knocks it on the head pretty quick. Aloe vera is also good but doesn't cure it.

Don't take random medical advice about specific treatments from a forum!

Try your GP's treatment, and if you are not happy, ask to be referred to a dermatologist. You can see from the responses above that there are lots of different types of eczema and lots of treatments. Without first hand assessment by someone with medical knowledge, how do you know which of these will work for your partner's situation, or potentially aggravate the condition?

Steroid creams can be effective, so don't dismiss them out of hand, but use them under medical advice. Re the advice about buying yourself some Hydrocortisone – this is a steroid, and according to the NHS website, "may not be sold for use on the delicate skin of the face" without medical assessment (can't paste the link in here because an ampersand seems to screw up the posting, but search Google or NHS Choices and you'll find the page)

I have had bad dermatitis on my hands all my life, years of steroid creams and years of using only moisturisers. Since my last visit to a dermatologist my hands have been completely eczema free. The solution? Simply not using soap to wash myself. This worked for me, but will be completely irrelevant for many other people. You need to talk to the experts.

starflower cream, or as it's in a pretty sensitive area – infant starflower cream. my missus uses it on her heylid eczema and it cleared it up in a wee while

She got told to avoid steroid cream on her face, E45 was suggested though.
No make-up then, limited diary foods, will try and work it out.
Thanks!

Used to suffer very badly as a teenager (face, arms, back of knees/elbows/wrists), faded with age (just upper arms) and stopped completely when I switched to olive oil soap – recommended by a friend.

Hydrocortisone is wonderful stuff, but it's so tempting to over apply.

I use 'Oliva' soap- can get it in most health food/organic shops, works a treat for me.

How odd i've got exactly this on my L eyelid, right round my eye socket really. Got some steroid cream now and 3 days later its cleared up will be interested to see if it comes back when i stop. Seems to have been set off my rubbing lots of bushes on my face during a race inc the infamous (and still aggrivating 2 months later) stinging tree. Google it.

I was recommended using steroid cream – Betnovate – and when the eczema started clearing up using Aqueous Cream to keep the area moisturised. I was also told to stop using perfumed soaps and stick to natural soap (such as Simple) and also to use non-bio washing powder.

Stress can be a cause of eczema – it was in my case – and having reduced most of the stress from my life the ezcema only occasionally flares up.

If it looks anything like this http://dermnetnz.org/acne/perioral-dermatitis.html really don't use steroid cream…

I used steroid cream when I had eczema around the eye and it was fine for the one time. If it repeats I would search out possible solutions too.

BUT

If you want to go a different route (as your OP suggests) I have heard that Lush's Dream Cream is really good for eczema. All natural and lush on the skin (pun kinda intended) 😉 Plus get some other lovely little things for her and you'll be 'in' for the weekend at least! 😉 🙂

steroid cream really isn't that bad its not anabolic steroids. There are a multitude of different types of steroids its only the anabolic one which make your balls shrink or women grow mustaches. I have had eczma all my life and have always used betnovate when it get really bad and then just used stuff like simple cream or coco butter when its not so bad.