Living with Pompholyx
IMPORTANT: Please seek medical advice if you think you have this illness. The advice on this page is provided following internet research and should not be used as an alternative to consulting a doctor or dermatologist.
Skin protection is an important part of the treatment of Pompholyx. Try to follow these practical guidelines for living with pompholyx:
- Protect your hands from direct contact with soaps, detergents, scouring powders, and irritating chemicals by wearing waterproof, cotton lined, gloves.
- Wear waterproof gloves while peeling and squeezing lemons, oranges, or grapefruit, peeling potatoes, and handling tomatoes.
- Wear heavy duty gloves when doing gardening and heavy work. Also wear cotton gloves when doing housework.
- If you have a dishwasher, use it regularly (one of the few upsides - guilt free dishwasher!). If not, let a member of the family do the dishes. Avoid doing laundry by hand.
- Avoid contact with turpentine, paint thinner, white spirit and paints. Also avoid contact with furniture polish, metal polish, floor polish and even shoe polish. When using polish, wear heavy duty gloves.
- When washing your hands, use tepid water and a very small amount of mild soap such as Dove or Basis. Rinse the soap off carefully and dry gently. All soaps are irritating no matter what they claim on the pack. Soap free cleansers are less irritating than soap and are recommended for this condition.
- Rings can worsen dermatitis by trapping irritating materials. Remove your rings when doing housework and before washing your hands.
- When outdoors in cold or windy weather wear unlined leather gloves to protect your hands from drying and chapping.
- Protect your hands from dust.
- Protect your hands for at least four months after your eczema has healed. It takes a long time for skin to recover. If you aren't careful, the dermatitis will recur.
- If you have develop pompholyx of the feet (pedopompholyx), wear socks with a high cotton content. Change your shoes daily. Alternate two or three pairs of shoes, so that your shoes will dry out completely before you use them again.
Find out more
This site provides you with some basic information about Pompholyx and the issues that arise from living with the ailment. If you want to do more research or if you want to know about treatments for Pompholyx and eczema we recommend searchig on Google.
2010