The Top 8 Most Annoying Things About Living With Eczema

1. Skin - Well duh... Eczema is all about your skin. I don't mean the skin still attached to your body. When you have eczema you leave tiny little skin flakes everywhere you go. Think 'Hansel and Gretel' but with skin....Gross right!  (little tip, if you do notice this hanging out with someone who suffers with eczema, pleeeease don't point it out! It's cringe-worthy enough as it is!) And you spend your entire life hoovering. The joys.


2. Medicines - Your top drawer/bathroom cabinet looks like this...

And that's not even including creams....

You will get used to finding tubes and tubs and pumps of the stuff everywhere, and having to carry a miniature version of one of these round with you EVERYWHERE is vital. (god help the world if you forget it. 'We need to go to boots NOW!')

3. Makeup - The eternal struggle. Do I put makeup on to cover the eczema on my face knowing it will make the eczema on my face worse? or do I not bother and accept the fact people will stare or ask 'Whats wrong with your face?!'
liquid foundation is a biiiiiig no no. It drys out your skin in approx. 10.3 seconds and feels like you have one of those hardening clay face masks on. It is a glorious, joyous day when you find a makeup product that doesn't irritate your skin or make it feel like Frozone from the Incredibles just ice-blasted you in the face.

4. Perfume - Everything irritates eczema, honestly. Even perfumes and deodorant's. You've got no chance in hell of waking up and spritzing one of those gorgeous fruity smelling perfumes over your neck and wrists before you leave the house. Nope. You get bog standard Sanex anti-irritant. How alluring.

5. What Tan?! - If you can tan and have eczema pleaseeeee share your secret! I've come to accept that its almost impossible. The sun is great for eczema, all those vitamin-y rays do wonders, but of course, its not that easy. I've named myself 'The Shade Hopper' due to the fact I cannot bear to lay in the sun for more than a minute without feeling my skin sizzling. 'Oh just go get a spray tan!' I hear you say....hahaha no. Remember point number 1 up there? it literally just shed's off in patches. That does not look cute trust me.

6. The Scratch Cycle - Don't itch. Don't itch. Don't Itch. Don't do it. Think of something else. It will make it worse. These are things that make every eczema sufferer want to punch you in the face for saying. Wow thank you, telling me not to itch has made the situation SOOOOO much better. I wish! Eczema itches more the more you scratch it and the more you scratch it the sorer it becomes and the itchier it gets. Its a never ending cycle that is so hard to break, so please for the love of god do not tell me to simply 'stop scratching'.

7. Sleep - This is one of the most infuriating factors for me. You spend allllll day making a conscious effort to ignore your itches, then BAM as soon as you peacefully drift off to sleep all hell breaks loose. despite your best efforts of sleeping with the window open and a fan pointing at your face in the depths of winter, and slathering yourself in cream meaning every inch of bed sheet will stick to you, you scratch. Oh boy do you scratch. My parents often have to come into my room at night and wake me because my scratching is keeping them awake. Then comes the morning where you wake up and look in the mirror to find you've itched your face until you've bled and it looks like you just got out of a cat fight. You're then left to deal with the struggles of point #3.

8. Obnoxious People - Now this may sound harsh but it's so tedious having to deal with people like this. 'Oh have you tried this lotion, I heard its supposed to work miracles for dry hands, you can get it in Boots!' Yep. Tried it. No I promise I have tried it. I have tried every damn cream under the sun Thank You. 'oooooh does it itch?!' No no, not at all, just ignore my constant scratching, I'm doing it for fun! 'I used to have eczema but it went away!' How absolutely marvelous for you. Congratulations on having wonderful lovely smooth nourished skin, reminding me of how useless my own is. 'Is it contagious?!' hmmm. How about you find out.


 There are honestly so many every day struggles and adjustments people who suffer with Eczema have to deal with, so please, please if you see one of us attempting to put cream on subtly in public so no one notices, or relieve that one itch that has been pestering us for hours, just ignore it and act like its not even happening. We would appreciate it more than you would know!