Following the doctor's advice

So I stuck to the doctor's advice with my eczema.

I used the Trimovate cream on my hands twice a day. The Trimovate is quite thick and yellow and not very pleasant. It felt quite dry on my rough hands and not at all moisturising. However it is working.

It has three active ingredients in it:

• a medium strength cortiscosteroid to reduce inflammation and itchiness
• an anti-biotic to combat bacterial infection
• an anti-fungal to combat fungal infection

The Dakatcort ointment goes on much more easily, which is good as it has to cover a much larger area of skin. It's greasy but light compared to the Diprobase ointment. This contains:

• hydrocortisone (a mild corticosteroid)
• an anti-fungal/ antibacterial to deal with infection

The doctor said this was safe to use in small quantities on my face, and since using it I have have no more red patches on my forehead, hairline or jawline and the roughness is receding.

The Diprobase ointment I was already using. The doctor said I may as well stick with it as it's the only emollient I'd found that didn't make my skin react.

On the doctor's advice I've also been using Dermol cream mixed with a little water to wash with in the shower so I've chucked the aqueous cream in the bin!

So far, so good. However, it's definitely a time-consuming process doing all this twice a day. Especially as you can only apply the medicated creams sparingly - you can't just slather it on! And the Diprobase is so thick it's quite hard work to apply. But if it's going to make me better...

NB This advice was specifically for my skin complaint so may not be appropriate treatment for others.

Next post - how I got on longer term