How to Handle a Bad Flare Up

I lived with eczema my whole life. It really was a part of me and I just dealt with it. You’d think eczema would go easy on me being we were in such a long-term relationship. Nope, that wasn’t the case. Eczema came out for flare ups during some significant points of my life. I had an eczema flare up on my senior year photo day, my college graduation day, and my wedding day. I have read that stress can cause flare ups. I think with my named history of flare ups that would be true for me. Over time I have learned ways to help handle a flare up. Especially on important days such as these. I want to share some tips I use on how to handle a bad flare up.

Determine what caused your flare up

I had a bad flare up during those 3 times of my life. For me, I can probably say that I was feeling stressed and I triggered a flare up. I could have also encountered an allergen, or possibly ate too much dairy. Those were my main triggers. If you know what caused your flare up, then it will be easier to avoid a future flare up. In the moment of a flare up one usually just wants to concentrate on how to make it go away. My advice is to be mindful as to what caused it so you can avoid it.

Treat it immediately

Whatever this may mean for you. For me, it meant to use my prescription strength cortisone cream. The tricky part, for me, is my flare ups were on my eye lids and under my eyes. The cortisone said, “keep away from eyes”. I had to be very careful it didn’t get in my eyes because nothing else worked on an eye lid flare up.

Talk about it

This one might sound silly but I mean it… tell someone how you’re feeling. If stress did cause your flare up, then keeping in your feelings about it can only make it worse. Let’s face it, flare ups are annoying, inconvenient, and rude! Who do they think they are showing up uninvited! It is okay to be upset over a flare up. What isn’t okay is to let the flare up define you. This too shall pass. Tell someone how you feel if you’re upset. If you see someone staring at a flare up, tell them what it is if you want! You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable. They should… for staring (haha!)

Be careful with makeup

I have been there. A flare up on the face is terrible. As women, our first reaction is to cover it. I have learned that makeup only made mine look worse. I had a bad flare up under my eyes and concealer made it look like I had a nude color snake living under my eye. Not pretty! Don’t irritate your skin by covering it up.