Problem Pages

Eczema on the Eyelids

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eczema of the eyelids

A question from Breanna who suffers from eczema, eyelids being her particular problem.

Hello! I just found your page from a post on Reddit.com. I will get right to the point-I have eczema all over my body, but the worst part is my EYELIDS! They do -okay- in the summertime, but with the wind and cold comes a horrible condition. This began happening a few years ago and I found a suggestion online (it was hard to find anyone talking about this, so I suppose it is rare) that said to use Burt’s Bees Royal Jelly Eye Cream. I love this product, but it is a bit expensive for me. I am a student and while .5 ounces lasts a while, I hate having to spend $20 all at once on this product. What is worse, the only place in the U.S. I have been able to find it is in Whole Foods stores, and the closest one is over an hour away from my home. I was wondering if you perhaps knew of any other products that may be cheaper/easier to find? Some of the products I have tried that did not seem to work: Vaseline (this seems to prevent it from getting worse, but does nothing to help the damage already there) Nivea Even tried ChapStick Neem Aura balm Bag Balm etc. All of these products stung and burned, and none worked to reverse and heal the dryness except the Burt’s Bees Royal Jelly Eye Cream. Any information you have would be AMAZING

Hello Breanna

Thanks for getting in touch.

I am afraid there isn’t much that can be done about eczema, and it sounds like you have already tried a lot and probably know a lot.

A few points you might not be aware of, please excuse me if you do.

– very dry skin lends itself to bacterial infection, and bacterial infection can provoke the eczema to flare up.  This is one of the reasons a lot of people with eczema have flare ups of the condition.  A mild antibacterial can sometimes help.  There are some medical products that are designed specifically  to do this, Dermol 500 and Oilatum Plus are a couple of brand names.  But before going for this far it might be worth trying something simple like Carex.  Don’t be put off by the marketing talking about it being suitable for hands – if you take care to keep it out of your eyes it will be fine on your eyelids.

– the best agent for any kind of dry skin is lanolin, which in the UK at least you can buy in pharmacies.  It is hard to handle on delicate skin but I am sure you can work out a way.  It might help to try mixing it with some olive oil – you can melt them together in a cup placed in a bowl with some warm water.

– most difficult bit last, rubbing and scratching will make things worse.  I know that this is almost impossible to do and most people simply cannot stop themselves even if threatened by imminent and painful death.  But the basic problem is your skin’s poor barrier function, and anything that impairs it is going to make things worse.  This includes physically damaging it.

I know these aren’t much.  I know what a miserable condition eczema is and I would love to be able to help more.

When I sent this reply Breanna came back with a further question.

I have read online that people with eczema are not to use “real” soap-and I do not. Typically I do not wash my skin at all in that respect; rather I put tons of baby oil on my skin instead. Do you have any suggestions about these non-traditional “soaps” someone with eczema should be using? I wasn’t quite sure I understood what I was reading online when I came across this information, but perhaps you could shed some light on what this really means.

All soap dries the skin to some extent so it is better to avoid it if you have a problem.  Synthetic soap is better than real soap, but your approach of using oil is best of all so I would stick with it.

 

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