I found out the other day that I have eczema. (Thank goodness mine doesn't look as bad as the pictures on that page.) The first time I went in for it, the nurse practitioner wasn't sure what it was, but guessed that it was a fungal infection. So I smeared this gross cream on it for a month, and it only got worse. I went back this past Monday, and she along with another doctor told me she didn't know what it was, and referred me to a dermatologist. So I went to the dermatologist (who looks like Captain Kangaroo) on Wednesday, and he looked somewhat confused when he saw it too. He asked me a million questions over and over, the same questions I've been answering for the past month. "Do you have any history of hayfever or asthma?" "Any family history of skin cancer?" "What kind of soap and detergent do you use?" After all the questioning he determined that it was eczema and gave me a perscription for Kenalog. I don't like medicine, especially when it's a corticosteroid. It seems to be working though, the itching and redness have definitely gone away.
Why in the world did this just decide to come up now? I honestly have not changed anything that would cause a reaction like this. I do use a lot of different soaps, but I get a different one every time, and the eczema appeared back in November! So unless I'm having a reaction to every bar of soap I've used, I don't think it's the soap.
I have to go back to the dermatologist in a month, and I have to go see the nurse practitioner in six weeks because she said she wants to see what the outcome is. Can't I just call her rather than pay $100 to tell her I have eczema and it's gone for now?
That is a picture of my foot, which has nothing to do with the fact that I have eczema. I just wanted to let you know that now BOTH of my feet are swollen right on that little bump by my pinky toe, and it hurts!