On Monday and Tuesday it was about 95′F at the office, so I was expecting some kind of dermal explosion.

On Wednesday it showed up. I woke up with my face, chest, arms and knees breaking out. I put on my office clothes and planned on going in, but after a few minutes in them my skin hurt even more, and began to swell, so I changed and called in sick. By midday my eyes were half shut from being swollen, and I had a few bleeding gashes on my face and arms. My legs were ripped up and it hurt to bend them. It’s nothing compared to how my eczema used to be, but it hurt to touch things, and the pain was very distracting. Maybe it’s just me, but when my whole body is breaking out like that I end up feeling a bit ill as well. And of course, it can be difficult to feel professional when your face is bleeding and won’t stop.

Yesterday I stayed out of the sun as much as possible, including taking my parasol to the bus stop.  It’s treated with SPF 30, the closest thing I can get to sunscreen. [If you have any suggestions for a sunscreen for insanely sensitive skin, please let me know!]

Today my skin is feeling much better. My left arm is still breaking out, and several tiny infections are brewing, so I’m trying to keep them as clean as possible. My right arm is fine though. My face has some long cuts but they’re healing well. It also has red swollen spots that burn, and I’m not even sure what they are, but I’m touching those as little as possible. My left foot has at least 12 little boils on it this morning, hopefully more won’t pop up. I’m wearing jeans so I can’t scratch my legs no matter how much I want to.

I tried to stay upbeat this week, and did a fairly good job, and rarely mentioned my skin. The best part was that people chose to ignore it, so I was able to pretend that I looked more ‘normal’.

Please read the directions on your medication and follow them accordingly. These ointments suppress your immune system. It’s like giving sleeping pills to an over-reactive guard dog. It can be useful, but you don’t want to do it all the time.

For the record I have used Protopic, but only to stop the cycle of a major outbreak, and only for two weeks. The dermatologist explained the cancer warnings to me so I applied it sparingly. It worked excellently for me, but I also had learn to be careful with it.

The instructions said to not touch anyone after using the ointment unless I had washed my hands, and I forgot to, and handed something to my mother. She had a red burning rash on her palm for the next few hours.

Atopic eczema (AE) is a multifactorial skin disease caused by a variety of factors such as genetic conditions, alterated skin structure, immunologic deviations and environmental factors, among others.

Recently, it was demonstrated that Filaggrin (=filament-aggregating protein, FL) is a major gene for atopic eczema.

The BBC covered an interesting study into cat exposure sparking eczema in babies.

Scientists found having the mutant FLG gene increased the risk of eczema in a baby’s first year twofold, but adding exposure to a cat quadrupled that risk.

Another Pubmed article, from Royal Victoria Infirmary, notes

The discovery that null mutations in the filaggrin gene (FLG) are associated with atopic eczema represents the single most significant breakthrough in understanding the genetic basis of this complex disorder.

It’s very exciting to know that doctors have pinned what causes eczema, even if we don’t quite know what to do with that knowledge yet.