Hey everyone! Hope all is well. It has been a while since I posted and I’ve had lots of questions about how my skin is doing so I thought I’d update everyone. Bottom line: it is mostly positive which I am thrilled about! There’s a couple of factors that this is down to and I’ll go through them now:
- It’s been 5 months since I changed my diet to a more plant based one and it has definitely helped me. I did veganuary (vegan for January) and it reset my gut health and my eczema totally cleared. Since then, I have re-introduced all foods and my eczema has stayed at bay. I now tend to eat mostly plant based in the week and eat whatever I want on weekends or if I’m going out – it is important not to restrict yourself so much that you end up unhappy/overly stressed, because that will make eczema even worse. I definitely eat way more fruit and vegetables (I have been following Medical Medium on Instagram and learning all about the healing powers of fruit and veg) and I love it! I’ve been juicing lots and eating lots of hydrating, watery foods: celery, cucumber, melon etc. It’s also so beneficial living near a health food store and living in London in general because there are so many vegan options everywhere. I will admit though, with BBQ season well underway I have been digging into some yummy burgers and kebabs!
- I also think with the start of the New Year I had a more positive approach to my eczema and was determined to fix it – I was definitely in a better head space as well. I came off the contraceptive pill in October and I totally think that has helped (both mentally and physically). Not having hormones messing with me after ten years is definitely a nice feeling! I don’t really have any anxiety anymore and my mood swings/stress/worry over everything has also subsided. I think it makes a big difference even if it isn’t totally obvious straight away – try cleansing your body of anything artificial and let your natural body clock take over and shine through!
- I started getting acrylic nails in February which I had read were amazing because they stop you from cutting your skin when scratching. It TOTALLY works. With acrylic nails I can scratch and scratch and my skin won’t go red and I won’t be cut. I went away to Thailand last week and took my acrylic nails off and just had shellac on and each time I scratched it cut my skin. The second I came home I got acrylic nails again and it has made SUCH a difference. I really recommend this! The acrylic nails are much thicker and less sharp (and they look better and last longer which is an added bonus)!
- I also started using sunbeds sparingly. They are so good for eczema! I have written about getting phototherapy in 2016 which ended so badly for me. It is basically a really strong sunbed that you go in for a few seconds/minutes at a time (you build up) and it is in a hospital. It can be great for eczema, and even better for psoriasis. However it just burned me and gave me an infection. I shed full layers of skin and was so blistered and sore. However, regular sunbeds (which are way less strong) can be good for eczema and have definitely helped me. Some of the lie down ones are good because they increase your melanin and penetrate lots of vitamin D into the skin. I went a few times a month and I really noticed a difference. It also gave me a base tan before my holiday (I went to Thailand last week) and it was so nice not burning at the start of the holiday!
- I have also had my eyebrows microbladed and I got eyelash extensions for my holiday and so I now wear much less make-up. I think it has definitely helped. I haven’t had eczema on my face once. On holiday I wore no make up – it was SO nice to not wear make up for nearly 10 days. My skin goes so good in the sun and it’s so nice having zero rash/redness/itching. I will do a post separately about the sun-cream I used (thanks to everyone for their recommendations) and how my skin dealt with the sun. I’ll also show you how pigmented my skin is with a tan where my eczema used to be – not so nice. Stay posted!
So all in all very happy! It isn’t been completely smooth though – I still itch and scratch occasionally and have had ups and down with slight flare ups. For example, I went skiing in March which consisted of a week of alcohol and heavy foods and I was very worried how my skin would cope. Apart from being very dry (story of my life), it was actually fine – I didn’t react to anything and spent the whole week laughing – it is the best medicine! However, when I got back my skin started to get more itchy and red and the eczema started to creep back. I hadn’t used steroid cream all year and I really didn’t want to use any because of all the negative stigma attached to them. There is a constant worry that you can get addicted and once you start you can’t get off – this has never happened to me but reading about it online etc can make you panic! That is actually quite stressful in itself – the fear of skin getting worse or spiralling back into a negative mindset can definitely derail you and encompass so much of your time. To put my worries at bay, I decided to listen to myself and use some mild steroid cream for 7 days – I have read that people don’t know how to use steroid cream and often don’t use it for long enough rather than using it too much. You are supposed to use it for 7 days minimum even if the rash disappears before that. I remember last year I would try and use it for 7 days and I always felt like it came back regardless – so in the end I only used it for a day at a time as and when I needed to. This time, I decided to use the cream sparingly for 7 days and then stop. It worked! The cream got rid of the inflammation pretty much straight away but I kept applying the cream for 7 days and it didn’t come back and hasn’t for a few months now. It could have spiralled into something much worse if I hadn’t intervened. More importantly, my anxiety went straight away and anxiety/stress can make eczema so much worse sometimes it isn’t worth it. We are nearly half way through the year and I have only used steroid cream once… last year I used it so much more than that so I am happy with the progress I’ve made and although I love the natural remedies I have discovered, I’m not afraid of using medicine that works so well!
Anyway that’s enough from me – more posts to follow in the coming days. I have also had the opportunity to work with an amazing company and test some of their new eczema products – more to come on that soon! Stay posted!
Love, Lydia xxx