“What other people see isn’t necessarily reflective of how bad my skin is. No one can visibly see how unattractive or sore I feel.”

Amara

Amara, Aramide and Zainab said that at some point in their lives, eczema had negatively impacted their social life and that they had struggled to communicate this to friends.

Amara, Aramide and Zainab also sympathised with those whose fear of their skin being sore or bleeding made them hesitant towards socialising with friends or intimacy with their partner. Zainab described herself as being a “hermit” during her final year at university when a flare-up was particularly bad.

She recalled that her skin used to stop her enjoying warm weather, saying:

“I used to hate summer because of my allergies, and all the heat and sweating really aggravated my skin. Once during a visit to Hyde Park my back was burning with itchiness in the sun so much that I ended up scratching up all of my back.”

Zainab

Although socialising can be hard during a flare-up, Amara, Zainab and Aramide stressed that changing your mind-set is really important, and self-confidence is the key to accepting something you cannot change. Whilst everyone deals with their eczema in a different way, make sure you are taking steps to boost your overall confidence. This can be as simple as exercising or getting your hair done, or looking at yourself and remembering all your good qualities.