Real stories
Case Study 1 has suffered from hand eczema since birth. As a child, he suffered from both hay fever and asthma, but has since outgrown the latter. He has seen GPs and Dermatologists over the years, as well as trying various treatments, and finds that the cold weather in winter, as well as grasses, pollens and dust mites, make his hand eczema worse. It interfered with him playing sport at school, and meant that he avoided choosing a career that involved manual work. He says that he has learnt to live with the condition, but that it still gets him down, especially when it ‘flares’. Despite this, he describes his hand eczema, although dry, cracked and itchy, as “not bad”, and says that it is under control at the moment.
Case Study 2 has suffered from hand eczema for 8 years. There is a history of eczema in his family, but he only suffered mildly from it when he was younger. Now, he finds it affects him every day. His knuckles are dry and cracked, with weeping and redness, but he says it hasn’t been too bad lately, and is usually worse in the winter. Despite this, he says that people stare at him when he goes to the shops, and he has to be careful about what building materials he touches at work. He has tried various treatments, from emollients, to wet wraps, to a topical steroid, but says that his hands still need constant vigilance.
Case Study 3 has had hand eczema for 13 years, but also suffers from eczema on her neck and face. There is a history of eczema in her family, and she has suffered from allergies and sensitivities before, including to latex gloves, which started her hand eczema in the first place. Changes in the weather and pregnancy made her hand eczema worse, but she has found that her fingertips have been very dry, itchy and cracked over the past few months. This may be because of her frequent contact with water since the birth of her baby, which has made caring for her child very difficult. Her original diagnosis was made by her GP, but she was also referred to a Dermatologist. She has been patch tested and has tried a variety of treatments, of which some helped and some didn’t. She feels that hand eczema has significantly affected both her professional and social life. On bad days, it makes her feel very low and unhappy.
There is no history of eczema in Case Study 4’s family, and she didn’t have it as a child, but for the past 8 years, she has suffered from eczema on her hands, and now also has it on her scalp. She was referred to a Dermatologist shortly after the initial diagnosis was made, and although she had a mild ‘flare up’ a couple of weeks ago, she describes her hand eczema as “fair” over the past few months. Eczema tends to make her hands rough, tender and cracked, and she is currently using moisturisers and a coal tar soap she bought off the internet to treat them. She has tried other treatments, but found that they didn’t help. Her hand eczema is worse in the winter, and although washing up and perfumes make it worse, she refuses to let it affect her life.
Case Study 5 only had eczema as a baby, but has since suffered from hand eczema for the past 2 years. Although she hasn’t been seen by a healthcare professional, she is sure of her diagnosis, and thinks that she even knows the cause. Her hand eczema, which is characterised by itching, followed by small blisters and cracked fingertips, began when she started physiotherapy training 2 years ago and is always worse at work. She thinks that constant hand washing and alcohol gels in hospitals are responsible. She finds that it improves over weekends or when she is on holiday, but it has been particularly bad over the past few months. She has tried moisturisers and antihistamine tablets, but still finds that it affects her professional life. Her hand eczema sometimes gets her down, and she finds that it affects her socially too - when her hands are bad, she tends to keep them in her pockets out of embarrassment.
