Anyone who’s suffered from severe eczema will know that you’d pay everything you had to make the itching and pain go away.
But one woman has found that the cream that helped her dry, cracked skin cost less than £8, and has changed her life for the better.
Emilie Dunn, 24, says the treatment has made her ‘ready to live again’, after a reaction to steroid creams caused her body to swell and become covered in angry rashes.
Emilie, from Hull, East Yorkshire, has always had eczema, and says one of her earliest memories is being wrapped in bandages to help stop her itching.
With flare ups occurring every few months, for weeks at a time the skin on her hands would become dry, cracked and inflamed.
Luckily, her classmates were ‘surprisingly understanding,’ as throughout primary and secondary school her hands would become so painful they would bleed during lessons.
‘I’d be writing in class and my hands would split open and start bleeding all over my work,’ she said.
‘It wasn’t just painful, it was incredibly embarrassing.
‘Most people were kind, but some of the other children would start to point and laugh and make the whole thing worse.’
After leaving school, Emilie, then 18, had enjoyed several months without a flare-up when she noticed her right foot showing signs of inflammation, which she immediately believed to be caused by some kind of infection as a result of her cracked skin.
Prescribed a course of steroid cream to use over two weeks by her GP, fortunately, the medication worked, but after the course was finished a second rash appeared on her forehead.
This time, the doctor prescribed steroid tablets, which again appeared to work well while she’s been taking them.
‘I was convinced it wasn’t eczema, as I’d never had it on my face before and it looked completely different,’ said Emilie.
‘It was a dry, pink layer of skin – like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.
‘I’d feel quite cold and chilly, but my skin was physically hot. Still, the steroids worked and I thought that was that.’
Then, just days after finishing the medication, she noticed the redness coming back with a vengeance.
‘The rash went from my forehead to my chin and all the way down my chest,’ she continued.
‘When it was all over my body I went back to the doctor, who suggested more steroids, but something told me not to use them
‘I was convinced the steroids had something to do with it.’
Emilie and her mum, Julie, 53, began to do some research online, and found out what they believed to be the problem – a condition called topical steroid withdrawal or TSW.
What is TSW?
Topical steroid withdrawal is sometimes called topical steroid addiction or red skin syndrome.
It’s a condition that tends to come about after overuse or incorrect use of corticosteroids – typically prescribed for skin conditions like dermatitis and eczema.
It can result from prolonged, frequent, and inappropriate use of moderate to high potency topical corticosteroids.
Burning, stinging, and bright red skin are common symptoms of TSW, and these tend to come about around one to two weeks after discontinuation of medication.
There have been very few studies on this condition, but it’s typically thought that it’s more common in people who blush easily.
Although it’s thought to be rare, it’s important that doctors do not prescribe high potency steroids for too long (or that people don’t overuse steroids or use them on different areas of their body to try and lessen their initial symptoms) to avoid this happening – as it can be extremely uncomfortable and painful.
Things continued to get worse, with Emilie saying: ‘I woke up one morning and the skin on both my feet was red raw. I can’t describe how painful the itching was – it was deep in the skin.’
Within a fortnight, Emilie’s feet had ballooned to four times their normal size and the family doctor made a home visit as she could not walk.
After testing a sample of skin from the affected area, he confirmed she was suffering with a staph infection, caused by the bacteria staphylococcus.
She had to lay on the sofa all day as she couldn’t walk, and had to change her dressings hourly – as well as needing to give up her job as a shop assistant.
People made cruel jibes to Emilie in the street because of her inflamed skin.
Emilie said: ;Children stopped and stared. My skin was bright red, cracked and flaky – there’s no denying I looked horrendous. But it was the adults that shocked me.
‘I don’t mind being stared at, but they could at least have tried to hide how disgusted they were. ‘
‘People don’t realise how much of an impact having something like this has on your confidence.
‘I heard someone in Primark say to their partner, “What’s wrong with her face? It’s disgusting,” after looking at me in the queue.
‘Because of that comment, I spent two years hidden away at home while I tried to find something to fix my TSW.’
Although doctors offered her more steroids to treat the infection, Emilie was adamant it would worsen her self-diagnosed TSW, so refused.
Determined to find a natural treatment to ease her condition, Emilie spent the next two years trying out ‘every product under the sun,’ and the one that worked for her turned out to be Balmonds Skin Salvation, costing £7.99 for 30ml.
‘It was amazing. I started using it on my face and within a week I noticed I was less red and flaky,’ said Emilie.
‘As the weeks passed, my skin became less and less red and, for the first time in years, I didn’t look as flushed.’
As the redness reduced, by September last year, Emilie felt confident enough to start leaving her house again.
‘It might not sound a lot to other people, but it’s been a huge step for me and I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I hadn’t used Balmonds.’
Although no cream will work for everybody, and for some, steroids and other prescribed creams are the best way to reduce eczema symptoms, for Emilie, Balmonds was the only one that gave her her skin – and life – back.
The award-winning cream is oil-based and made with beeswax to create an antibacterial barrier that stops infections getting in. It’s also enriched with hemp seed oil and calendula to soothe those sore, cracked bit.
‘It feels like in those five years I should have building my career or getting my life sorted, but I’ve hidden away behind closed doors,’ said Emily.
‘Balmonds has helped me get a step closer to that.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/12/lifelong-eczema-sufferer-called-disgusting-passers-saved-8-wonder-cream-12842239/
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