Eczema and the Super Spooky Halloween Surprise

I know Halloween is over, and the candy-stocked shelves are made barren, ready for a full frontal assault of the colors red, green, and white. However, my experience this year with trick-or-treating and my eczema felt like something I think we with atopic dermatitis can all relate to in one way or another.

I mean, isn’t that at least in part the point of this community? Making the insufferable, uncomfortable and sometimes just plain comical aspects of living with atopic dermatitis known so others can know they aren’t alone. That, at least, is part of the allure for me.

How does the story start?

Anyway, I digress. Let me set the scene for you.

It was Halloween eve. A Monday. Already off to a good start. The sky was dark, and a storm front that had blown in that afternoon made the wind extremely noticeable this particular evening. After an extremely blazing hot October, with some days reaching almost 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the weather here had taken a staggering downward turn over the weekend. It was in the ’30s when I woke up on Halloween morning. Cold AND extremely windy.

How did I prepare for Halloween with eczema?

Last night, Master Chief and the Grim Reaper suited up in our mud room to face the elements in pursuit of free candy. When you are seven or eight, not even freezing winds or eczema can deter you from candy. I, however, felt less excited to face the wind. Of course, I was armed with the typical ‘eczema winter gear’:

Face devouring infinity scarf to prevent neck flare-ups? Check.
A toque that covers my forehead entirely? Check.
Wind-impenetrable gloves to avoid drying out my hands and getting patches that itch like no tomorrow? Check.
Holiday-appropriate mask to join in on the festivities? Check.

Did I regret what I wore?

I should’ve realized I would end up regretting wearing the last item on that list. I’ve had eczema for many, many years. However, I had been enjoying a remission of my symptoms of eczema on my face, neck, and behind my ears for the past few weeks and was careful not to trigger a reaction. Or so I thought.

Have I worn a mask before?

In my defense, I don’t think I’ve worn a mask for Halloween ever before. My costumes just didn’t seem to include masks, I guess. Part of me wondered if this was a subconscious act on my part to avoid a reaction on my most volatile eczema-stricken body part, my face.

For some reason, this Halloween, I threw caution to the wind and donned a thick latex mask. (For those of you curious, it was a frightening 50’s style mask of a cartoonish woman’s face. Similar to the ones worn in the horror movie called ‘The Strangers.’)

How did wearing a mask go wrong?

Go big or go home, right? Ugh. Wrong.

I did not foresee the rapid increase in temperature under the mask, brought on by both the insulating qualities of industrial-level thick latex and my warm breath.

Within five minutes of walking down the street, wearing the offending mask, it turned from costume to sweat prison. It formed something of a slight heat seal around my face and made a bit of a wet popping noise when pried off.

Well, my ‘wet-from-perspiring' face was now exposed to very cold wind. In a few minutes, it started to feel like my face was freezing.

Not one to spoil the fun and call it quits because of a bit of skin discomfort, I soldiered on, motivated by the principle of ‘the higher the candy yield, the higher the candy tax.’ I pulled up my infinity scarf, and we continued down the road until we reached our vehicle to return home with the spoils.

How did my face react?

My face felt hot.

Upon getting in the passenger side seat, I pulled down the visor and pushed open the slide-toggle mirror. What greeted me in my reflection was much more frightening than the ‘Strangers’ mask I had been wearing earlier. My skin looked horrible. My whole face was red, and the skin around my mouth, cheeks, and nose was tight and dry. The mask had also caused a contact dermatitis-type reaction, and a rash had formed on my forehead.

The next morning my regular eczema was back on my face in full force. Remission over. Ugh. Happy Halloween to me, I guess.

What did I learn?

Rather than completely RSVP’ing to my pity party, I’ve tried to look for the lesson in all of this. All I can come up with is this: Weather and eczema suck sometimes. There’s only so much one can do.

There is a much more important lesson from all this. One that is necessary to burn into my consciousness: Latex masks are off the table, forever.