I Hate My Skin

By some miracle, I was able to get an appointment with a new dermatologist (Dr. I) about 5 weeks post eyelid/ear lobe infection. It usually takes months but the pandemic meant that the doctor was only booking patients a month in advance, so I had a good feeling.

I made my notes to bring along with my history and some questions – I was ready to try again with a dermatologist.

Dr. I came into the room and said pretty rudely “why are you here?” even before looking at the file containing the referral information from my family doctor. So, I began to tell them about my recent experience but something felt weird to me, the doctor didn’t really want to listen and seemed eager to diagnose and get in a quick fix/prescription. It was so awkward.

They felt that my ear lobe infection was likely cause by an allergy to nickel even after I informed them I taken out my surgical steel earrings about 7 months before the infection, but they wouldn’t listen so I assume somewhere in my file is now written that I have an allergy to nickel (I do not by the way). I did however learn a couple of interesting things.

This included that since my primary “eczema zone” is my hands there is now a prescription drug approved to treat it. It’s called Toctino which they described as a “retinoid cousin of Accutane“. Here’s the catch though, it requires A LOT of birth control (but only if you’re a woman) and I would be required to essentially take the Toctino in a “low dose” for basically the rest of my life.

The appointment wasn’t helpful but when we were talking about the nickel allergy (with me opening disagreeing) they mentioned in haste that the only way to know for sure would be via a patch test but I would likely wait a year or more to get an appointment. I agreed to be referred to another dermatologist for the patch test.

My notes from the appointment were: 1) Use Protopic instead of Betaderm Ointment (my staple treatment), 2) Use products on the “safe list” – a picture below of the list which was put together by another dermatologist, 3) Avoid jewelry (their concern with nickel), 4) Change my shampoo and conditioner and 5) consider Toctino.

Oh, and wait for a call from the dermatologist who is specialized in patch testing. Note – I did not get the script for Protopic filled.

The eczema on my hands was a bit out of control (even with using betaderm ointment and cotton gloves nightly) however nothing really seemed out of the ordinary, at least for me.

My new work environment was my home office, located in a finished area of the basement which greatly limited my exposure to random allergens and triggers.   So when I started getting some dryness and puffiness around my eye I figured it was likely just some random dry skin.  I started putting some more moisturizer on it but over time it continued to get worse.

Talking with my doctor:  

I finally decided to call the doctor in December 2020 and sent some photos of what was going on.  She said I had an eye lid infection!!!!  Likely transferred from the eczema on my fingers.  Oh great, I managed to transfer a secondary bacterial infection from my fingers (although they didn’t seem infected) to my eye lid.  I was prescribed erythromycin eye ointment 4x/day for 10 days.

During our conversation, she said it was probably time I saw a dermatologist again and said she would refer me to a new doctor who saw patients at a clinic in my local hospital.  She reassured me that they we good and that she hadn’t had a complaint about them yet. (Foreshadowing here to a post later on…)

Another infection:

A couple days after this conversation, my ear started feeling swollen, itchy, red and hot.  Another infection had cropped up on my earlobe.   After another visit to the doctor (in person this time) I was prescribed some ear drops (ciprodex) and antibiotics (cephalexin or Keflex).

Here is what my ear looked like.  Needless to say Christmas 2020 was filled with taking well timed antibiotics.

Ear Lobe Infection/Ezcema Irritation – December 2020

I don’t need to explain the challenges that presented themselves in 2020.  Yes, a global pandemic, a health crisis that many hope to never see again.

For those of us with eczema on our hands we’ve had to deal with a new issue – being forced to use alcohol based hand sanitizer ALL THE TIME.  For me, using hand sanitizer in pre-2020 was for those times where things were a little too gross and soap and water were too far away.  As a matter of fact, every hand sanitizer i’ve ever bought has expired before being used.

While trying to adapt to the changing public health rules I ended up having to use whatever the store was offering.  This resulted in my eczema flaring – I really should of known that this was going to happen.

What happened next wasn’t something I really could of predicted.

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted an update on how I am doing.  The truth is I have  been dealing with some small mild eczema outbreaks but nothing close to what I had previously (Thankfully!)

Currently, I am experiencing some ultra annoying finger eczema.  it’s the kind that start with little bubbles under the skin.  When I was younger I would pop them with a needle but of course I wouldn’t recommend that now as secondary infections just don’t sound like much fun.

Here’s what I am talking about:

(Yes – written in 2017 but posted in 2020.  Just a little time lag.)

After my last post I was hoping that this winter was going to an easy one on my skin.  Well, hoping didn’t work out very well.  As the title of this post says I ended up with an infection, mostly on the right ring finger but there were smaller infections on many of my fingers.

Here are some pics:

1. The infection starts and no matter what I try it just doesn’t cut it. (I tried antiseptic solution, antibiotic ointment, eventually peroxide, soaking it in warm water…)
2. The infection gets IN my finger causing redness, pain and swelling.
3. Look at that swelling.

This infection was fast and caught me off guard.  It went from my usually dry, cracked and a bit infected (but manageable) finger to needing a doctors visit literally over night.  I watched the red infection line go down my finger and called my doctors office.  Long story short I was prescribed these to take for 7 days:

7 days of 4 pills a day…. yuck.

The script was written as “Keflex” which after doing an internet search I learned that it is used to treat skin infections.

I am not a person who enjoys pharmaceuticals so agreeing to antibiotics for a silly skin infection always makes me somewhat grumpy.  But, I knew that this was getting bad so I sucked it up and took them.  They made me tired but didn’t mess with my stomach like other antibiotics have in the past.  In the end, they did the trick and slowly my finger started to get better.  Although, I had to add in Fucidin cream into my nightly routine to help out.   I wish I had had this cream when the infection was starting as I have a feeling it would of ended differently.

Here are some pictures of the finger as it was healing:

1. 3 days into the treatment.
2. The day I finished the treatment.
3. Today – 5 days after treatment was finished.

So, the big infection is gone and I am much more comfortable however it appears that my nail has been compromised as a result of the infection in the nailbed.  I am not sure what this means but as you can see in pictures 2 and 3 above it isn’t going to be comfortable as the nail grows out.  But, as always I will post an update.

It’s been awhile since my last post but its for a good reason.  That’s right, I haven’t been having many problems with my skin over the last several months and posting pictures of my normal looking skin just isn’t the point of my blog.

But alas, all is not the same.  Big surprise, eh?  See, I live in Canada where every year old man winter comes and dries out the skin of all Canadians as well as removes our ability to synthesize our own vitamin D through skin exposure (because we are always clothed to keep warm outside).

Anyways, my poor hands are feeling the pain.  They are dry, cracking and extremely painful.  Especially my pinky finger  which looks like this:

My pinky finger with eczema.

If you can’t see it there is a cut on the side of the nail and lets just say its making typing this post pretty painful as with each key I press it shoots a painful reminder that I am forever someone with eczema.  I am now sporting a lovely bandage on this finger daily just to make my normal activities hurt less.  I just started using my steroid cream and gloves again to help add some moisture and healing to the mix.  I do see an improvement in the morning but not as much as I would like.

I am still trying to go indoor tanning however my schedule hasn’t allowed for regular visits.  With this new flare up I am going to make a point to go more often.  Luckily for me they just started winter hours and are opened late.

Here are a couple more pictures of my hands which I took yesterday:

Eczema in between my fingers.

My poor sore finger tips.

I am hoping that this is all I get this winter.  I’ll keep you posted.

We just got back from a great family getaway to the Six Flags Great Escape Lodge located in Queensbury, New York.  This was our second year visiting the lodge in the winter and it doesn’t disappoint.  (Totally off topic but I HIGHLY recommend taking a trip there and having some good old family fun.  Not to mention if you are coming from eastern Ontario it involves an amazing drive though the Adirondack Mountains.)  Anyways, last year I had just started tanning and was starting to clear up and found that this trip really helped my skin get (or at least look) better.  The chlorine in the pool has always had a good effect on my skin (think bleach baths if they have ever been recommended for you).  The chlorine dries my skin out nicely which is actually something I find beneficial to keeping my skin mostly eczema-free, this is of course very different from the typical recommendation of moisturize the heck out of your skin.  So last year I was thankful for my waterpark visit and its effects on my skin.

This year was a bit different.  I keep my skin slightly on the dry side by indoor tanning and found that the extra drying effects of the chlorine in the water caused my eczema to actually flare on my hand and I developed a few area on my arm as well.  For the first time in many months I was scratching again at night… yuck.  Smart me did bring some moisturizer (Glaxal Base = my fav) for the kids so I was able to use it and get some relief from the dry itchy hands.

So, I learned a valuable lesson.  Although my skin prefers to be dry to be eczema-free’ish I need to be cognoscente of what else can dry it out so that I don’t get too dry and cause myself to flare.  The balancing act is a fine art.

Here is my left hand on February 6, 2012 after one day at the waterpark.

On my left hand I am starting to get some “cuts” in the bendable areas of my hand.  This year I have had limited inflammation as well but alas it is back after the chlorine exposure (you can see its worst on my right hand).

Here is my right (worst) hand on February 6, 2012 after one day at the waterpark.

Check out my thumb, ouch.

Here is the patch starting on my arm. Itchy.