Eyelid Eczema Flare Up and Allergies

Although having an eczema rash on just about any part of the body isn’t pleasant, to say the least, there are certain areas that are worse for me than others, personally.

Why have my eyes flared in the spring?

Since my teenage years, I’ve always dealt with pretty bad facial eczema in general. Going through TSW (topical steroid withdrawal) only seemed to exacerbate that even more. These days, typically, when I do have a flare up, it tends to be mostly on my face and neck. However, the past two years, I've had an awful flare up at the same time - during the spring months of April and May. Both years, I experienced severe symptoms on my eyelids and around my eyes. This is unfortunately what I’ve been dealing with for the past several weeks now.

What eczema symptoms did I experience?

About a month ago, I noticed my eyes were swelling up. I had red flaky rashes and small open cuts around my eyes and on my eyelids. I suffer from other chronic eye conditions as well, such as chronic dry eye, so at first, I figured it was just the eczema flare up and a dry eye flare. However, as more time continued to go on, I started getting more and more worried, and was feeling quite miserable as I couldn’t even keep my eyes open for long. I was stuck in bed for the most part, listening to music or audio books and podcasts with my eyes closed.

Did allergies play a role in this flare up?

It suddenly dawned on me that I had the same exact issue last year, at the same time. I thought maybe it was allergic conjunctivitis - even though I’ve never dealt with that in the past. It was suspicious that it was at the same exact time of the year. So, I scheduled an urgent care appointment for the following day. Sure enough, when I explained to the doctor what was going on, she suggested it was allergic conjunctivitis as well. Great - new allergies on top of everything else now.

I was prescribed anti-histamine eye drops and went on my way. I’d never used those before so I wasn’t sure what to expect and was a bit nervous. They did alleviate the itching inside of my eyes a bit, at least temporarily. I had to wait potentially for a few weeks for it to run its course, as allergic conjunctivitis is typically viral, so antibiotics don’t help.

How have my eyes been healing?

A few weeks later, my eyes have significantly improved, thankfully. I have even able to go on some hikes out in nature again. While I’m thrilled that I've made progress and seemed to be slowly coming out of a flare, I'm also quite anxious thinking about what new allergy is causing it, knowing I’ll likely have to go get allergy tested again at some point. Two years in a row, on the same exact day, is just too much coincidence.

Dealing with atopic dermatitis, allergies, and other chronic health issues is so unpredictable. It seems we always get a curve ball thrown at us seemingly out of the blue, and this felt much like that. So, despite the recent progress and being thrilled about it, it looks like I’ll have to be paying a visit to an allergy specialist again soon. Ah, the joys of dealing with the roller coaster of chronic health conditions.