What Eczema?

After my dermatologist’s appointment in late November, I posted about the doctor’s orders along with my fervent wishes that her instructions would help. They have!\par
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I haven’t had a crack (where my skin just dries up and splits apart, sometimes bleeding, but always painful and debilitating) on my hands for at least a week, and although I do get them from tiem to time, they always heal quickly and stay away once I get back on the wagon with my hand-treatment regime. That regime involves:\par

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• Wearing gloves whenever I’m doing something with water, even when I’m baking or cutting up meat or vegetables, since doing so involves washing my hands numerous times between steps.

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• Rubbing a small amount of vaseline on my hands numerous times throughout the day, but especially right after getting my hands wet (if I can’t wear gloves for some reason).

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• Applying triamcinolone(sp?) ointment 1-2 times a day, and sometimes wearing cotton gloves in bed at night to help my skin soak the ointment up before it gets rubbed off on the sheets.

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• Occasionally applying a triamcinolone/coal-tar mix which has a very…strong.. smell, which is why I only apply it when nobody else is around (other than the boys, who don’t care) and when I’m not going to need to wash my hands for a while. I actually like the smell – clears the sinuses.

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• I bought a tube of vaseline which I keep in the diaper bag so that when I’m out of the house, I have it available – otherwise a day away from home can have repercussions for a week!

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The more healed my hands are, the more I can do without worrying about drying them out, as long as I make sure to slather more vaseline on regularly. I now can peel oranges without my hands stinging all over the place! They’re still a little scaly in some places, but I can live with that and I’m confident even that could be eliminated if I were motivated enough!\par
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What joy! What\’c3\’82\’c2\~bliss! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!