My Story

Hi. I am Louise.

I have had eczema ever since I was a baby, although it was not severe in my childhood and teen years. It was confined mainly to the back of my legs and elbow creases.

In my early 20's my eczema worsened slightly, and for the first time in my life, I had eczema on my face. Eager to nip it in the bud, I started using steroid creams. I began with hydrocortisone, a widely available OTC remedy, but was soon using stronger prescription steroids from my doctor. At first, the steroids helped a lot, but over time, they seemed to be less effective and although I was advised to use them for short periods (i.e five days) I was soon using them daily to keep my skin looking "normal".

Things escalated and I noticed new patches of eczema appearing all over my body. Within a few years I was covered in an eczema rash, something that had never happened to me as a child. I saw dermatologists at the local hospital, who prescribed stronger steroids, as well as wet wrap treatment of steroids under bandages when the eczema peaked during my first pregnancy.

I am now in my mid 30's and have been using the creams for over a decade. When my husband was prescribed a strong steroid for his hands, I "borrowed" it for my face, which was red. It worked really well as it was very potent, but after some time I noticed persistent red patches on my nose which did not respond to the cream.

"Could the steroids be causing this?" I thought.

I googled and searched and eventually found an article on Wikipedia about steroid induced rosacea. This then led me to finding the site that changed everything for me, a website called “Addicted Skin.”The site opened with the words:

• Have you been struggling with eczema that has spread and is "untreatable"?

• When you reduce or stop your topical steroids does your skin flare, burn and or turn red?
• Have you been using more and more corticosteroids to control your eczema?
• Do you think you might have rosacea, but you are not sure?

Reading the articles on the site led me to conclude that I was addicted to steroids and needed to stop using them. The "rebound" effect of stopping these creams is dramatic and I am using this blog to record my progress as I wean off the creams.