‘My Skin Story’

Hello, welcome to my blog on all things skin related. Where do I start? Well, in 2018 I had an overwhelming response to my Instagram post on my skin transformation that I was very nervous and reluctant to post, but I am so glad I did! I have had so many questions that I hope I can answer through this blog, including all the products I use that helped me so much (I am a walking pharmacy). For now though, I’ve written my full eczema story. Read on if you’re interested 🙂

I have never had perfect skin – I have always been sensitive (few bouts of acne, reactions to things, greasy skin, dry skin, rosacea which was unconfirmed because different doctors told me different things… the list goes on). I spent part of my teenage years living in Asia and vividly remember regular trips to the skin doctor for a variety of problems. One thing I never suffered from however, was eczema. I didn’t have it from childhood which most people do and no one in my family suffers from it either.

I went to University in London and despite the stress and student lifestyle I never had any skin problems. I have always eaten healthy and exercised a lot, but never dieted or restricted myself. In 2014 I started a job in London after graduating and have been there ever since. My lifestyle did change when I started work – I could finally afford food for starters! Anyone at university in London knows what I’m talking about! I also went out a lot more (surprising, I know). I remember when I started work I never used moisturizer, not even on my face. Colleagues would tell me to moisturise my face twice a day – I was like what oh really ok!? Still had a very student mindset then!

I can’t remember exactly when the eczema came, but I think it started creeping in during 2015 and more so at the start of 2016. 2016 was a big period of change in my life. Work became more serious and I started to internalise the stress – I’m a perfectionist – anyone else? My (now-ex) boyfriend and I decided to buy a house together (why did no one warn me)?! The process of buying a house is HARD! I was very young and more impressionable that I am now. I’ll admit I am an organised control freak and very risk-averse and my boyfriend at the time was an architect/property developer who wanted to buy a dump, knock it down, re-build it and thought it would be easy! Bit of an identity crisis, and basically I was growing up – going from a student to an independent adult. Who knew I would struggle so much with that haha, it sounds trivial, and like these were all good problems to have, which of course they were, but I still lost a bit of myself and my happiness and that’s the honest truth. I spent my childhood moving countries and schools, so I was used to change, and it was therefore weird that this period of change shocked me so much.

In the summer of 2016 I started to lose sleep due to itching and my eczema became more difficult to manage – I was also not in a good head space at all. I went to see a dermatologist who prescribed me lots of amazing creams, some steroid cream and some strong anti-histamine (I will post all the details in a product blog post)! I relied mostly on the anti-histamine which was amazing for me because the itch disappeared! I used steroid cream sparingly to calm any flare, but not masses. He also recommended I get patch testing which I don’t recommend you do during a heatwave like I did :). Patch testing is an allergy test of hundreds of substances that come into contact with skin – it covers most things i.e. make up/perfumes/metals/chemicals etc. They tape a small amount of each substance to your back to see what you react to. A lot of people with eczema have some sort of contact allergy. After 5 uncomfortable days without a shower, my results came back negative. I was allergic to nothing. Brilliant! Back to square one.

I went abroad in September of 2016 for 2 weeks in the sun. Eczema disappeared. It didn’t matter what I drank or ate, I was not remotely itchy or sore. Sun is a MAJOR help for me and eczema (after the initial standard English person on holiday sun burn part). I came back to the UK on the day we completed on our house purchase. I thought the stressful part was over (I was wrong)! The itching and eczema crept in as soon as I started back at work and normal life resumed.

The next 3-4 months were a bit of a blur. The whole house (building site) situation totally overwhelmed me; we were there every evening after work and every weekend. It was a huge amount of work, cost, pain, blood, sweat, tears… you get the idea. This, alongside a busy period at work, meant I had internalised and personalised everything and totally let it all get to me. I couldn’t sleep due to being worried about everything – the anxiety took over. Nightly 3am boiling hot showers became a thing (if you know you know). Numerous other things happened to me that I won’t go into but all contributed to my stress levels. I now realise that I didn’t have anything to be stressed about, but everyone has their own personal battles and struggles and I had my fair share.

By November, Winter was truly here and the eczema had really flared – it was definitely stress induced but the cold weather made things much worse. It was nasty. I scratched and scratched and bled and scratched more. I wasn’t sleeping. Every part of my body was covered in red raw, itchy, flaky, bleeding, blistered hell, and I mean EVERY part. Eczema hit me like a ton of bricks, I had never suffered like this before, but it spiraled to the point where I had no control. I was blaming everyone for everything. I was in and out of the dermatologist, more blood tests for food allergies (turns out I have an allergy to dust mites – I talk about that in another blog post). I went to a Chinese herbalist who gave me lots of teas and tablets that were super expensive – not something I could sustain and I think it was so severe that I don’t think it really helped. My dermatologist sent me to get UVB phototherapy (light therapy) which is essentially a really strong sunbed. You go 2-3 times a week for 10 weeks and the results can be amazing (mainly for psoriasis). I did notice improvements for sure, it can be a brilliant replacement for steroids and some people swear by it. For me though, it left me super dry and burned each time, I would go bright red immediately after and my skin would be so hot and so tight I honestly couldn’t bend or straighten my arm. I shed a layer of skin each week. One time it was so strong my body blistered all over, which then became infected. I was in a constant state of shock. I cried numerous times a day (all things that make eczema worse – we can talk about that in another blog post).

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After an indulgent and boozy festive period, I ate clean from January 2017 and had no alcohol, but the condition got worse. This is when I took my ‘before’ photo. I still went to work the day that photo was taken, and was promptly sent home! I just remember looking at myself in the mirror sitting in tears thinking my skin would be like this forever and had definitely lost all hope. I could barely wear clothes, I couldn’t walk or move properly, I hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours a night in 3 months, I was cut all over but I was so itchy I couldn’t help but scratch more.

My dermatologist looked at me in shock when he saw me. He did a skin biopsy to check exactly what was going on – biopsy confirmed severe eczema and a severe infection. He prescribed me oral steroids and anti-biotics; he gave me super thick emollient and told me it would all be gone in a few days. You can imagine my hope but also my disbelief at what he was saying. It is fair to say at this stage I was willing to do anything. I had lost all sense of who I was. I was definitely living with life limiting eczema, without sleep, trying to juggle a full time job and the house was still being renovated at this stage and we were living back and forth between places.

To my disbelief my eczema and infection totally disappeared within a few days. The steroid dosage was high (it was prednisolone), I took 6 tablets a day for the first week, 4 tablets every day for the second week and 2 tablets every day for the third week so I was weening off slowly rather than abruptly. To my surprise, it really hardly returned. I was able to go to a hen party that weekend and I truly had so much fun for the first time in months. At that point I didn’t care if it came back, I was just glad for a weekend off! That was also the weekend we FINALLY moved into our house. I’d say it came back 20% and I kept it at bay with sparing use of steroid cream (one tube in the whole year) and emollient cream, but thankfully my nightmare was over. I couldn’t kick it completely, I still had eczema that flared after a heavy weekend or during a stressful time and I didn’t want to suffer from it forever and have to rely on the creams. The search continued! My dermatologist referred me to a therapist who specialized in skin conditions to manage the mental health side of things; I focused on yoga and meditation (which has been proven to reduce eczema flare ups)! I made sure I was in the best health and head space mentally (which was not easy) and physically (much easier). I made sure I was surrounded by amazing people, but I was still in a relationship that I was realise was toxic and unhealthy, and limited my ability to fully heal for another few years.

In 2018 I decided to try veganuary (being a Vegan for January), dry January (no alcohol) and also no sugar or caffeine – a total anti-inflammatory diet. If I had tried it in 2017 I don’t think it would have done much, my body was so sleep deprived and in a state of constant shock, I really think I needed medical intervention to get rid of the colossal damage. I couldn’t have continued many more weeks in the condition I was in. But by 2018, my headspace was better, I read many self-help books, I was doing yoga every morning and meditating daily and I was determined to go into the New Year eczema free.

Week 1 of being a vegan was hard, admittedly. My housemates were in hysterics. The first day I was hungover because I’d gotten in at 5am from New Years Eve. I ate peanuts in bed the whole day. Day 2 wasn’t much better, I was in a delirious state at work with no caffeine and I’d done no food prep. I got home from work, had a bowl of spinach for dinner and went to bed. By week 2, I had discovered Deliciously Ella (LIFE-SAVER). I spent the whole weekend in the kitchen making meals, snacks, and deserts and I experimented with all sorts of new ingredients. My boyfriend loved my creations (or so he said) and it wasn’t so difficult after all. I noticed a difference almost straight away, I felt amazing; no January blues, no itching, I was full of energy, I felt stronger than ever, super healthy, I lost weight, and my mindset was so positive.

The first weekend of February I had alcohol and non-vegan food, and I honestly felt rubbish after. I was itchy, uncomfortable and sluggish. Very annoying, but I finally realized the power of food and drink and how impactful it can be, especially when you don’t have good gut health which I clearly didn’t! I now try and eat more plant based, but I can now eat/drink pretty much anything and my skin doesn’t react. I haven’t used steroid cream in years now. If I scratch and my skin goes red, I put emollient cream on and when I wake up it’s gone. Before, if I scratched and aggravated my skin, I knew I would only get rid of it with steroid cream.

I know eczema is an emotive subject; there is a big debate over the use of steroids. This is just what worked for me, everyone is different. I see positives and negatives to all types of treatment, I am not trying to preach anything or tell you what to do (see my disclaimer page for more on that). I thank the steroids for getting rid of the worst of the flare up a year ago, but I thank the vegan diet for transforming my skin and my mindset in 2018. The ‘after’ picture was taken on 31.01.2018, exactly a year after the ‘before’ photo. Same picture, same place, one year difference and honestly, a different person. But I didn’t realise how much more healing and growing I needed to do.

I was left with a lot of pigmentation (more on that in another blog post). I had that for a few years after. My pigmentation eventually disappeared in summer of 2019, around the same time that I separated from my boyfriend who was with me on this journey. I don’t think whether that was just a co-incidence, but I walked away from a situation that no longer served me, and my skin health became the best it had ever been.

What a journey. I’ve seen so many posts recently of incredible people showing their skin struggles and they’re not alone! I want to use this blog to talk more about my story. More blog posts include:

• Causes of eczema; stress induced eczema and other causes.
• More about what I did to try and control my eczema (what failed and what worked). Full list of products I use coming soon!
• Anxiety and mental health – I was very lucky to see a therapist who specialised in skin disorders and how to cope which I was so grateful for. I learned so much about myself and my relationships improved – more later!
• Vegan diet and how that ultimately transformed my skin health – top tips and tricks. What I eat and drink (including supplements).
• What to change in your home – how to wash clothes – how to clean your home.
• Showers – the love hate relationship we have with them!
• Make-up tips – what works and what doesn’t!

I hope I can unite the community of people who suffer from skin related issues so we can be there for each other. No one should suffer like I did and I know many people do, and although there are WAY worse things that can happen to people, I do understand more than anyone how awful and life limiting it can be.

Thanks for reading!

Love, Lydia x