Eczema: Living the Itchy Life

Let me tell you a little bit about my personal experiences with eczema.  I've looked at the Webster dictionary definition of eczema, as I'm sure anyone who has it has done.  The definition goes something like this:

"A noncontagious inflammation of the skin, characterized chiefly by redness, itching, and the outbreak of lesions that may discharge serous matter and become encrusted and scaly."

Gross, right? Very medical, pretty well explained. But then, I looked at the Urban Dictionary definition and it seemed a bit more accurate, not written by someone who has to be polite and politically correct about things. Their definition, very close to my own, goes like this:

"A  disease that i got which makes people go crazy about you and stay away from you because it "looks" contagious. If i touch someone they think they have it when it is really nothing. But what it actually is caused by is an inflammation of the epidermis. Also what makes it sucks is that its unbearably itchy."

I'm well aware not many people have this condition, and I'm very, very happy about that. Although it isn't life threatening in any way (besides the urge to scratch as hard as possible when it gets unbearably itchy and you literally can't scratch it) it's incredibly inconvenient. As a woman who likes to wear makeup (I do it for fun, I used to do it for work), it's incredibly difficult and nerve-wracking to even consider trying new products because if it irritates my skin at all, I may end up rocking swollen eyes or a painful-looking blotchy red and swollen face for up to the next month. Something along the lines of this: 

This, fortunately, is mild as of late. Over the summer, it ha gotten worse, to the point where I slept with bags of ice on my face to make the burning stop.  I've been dealing with (and trying to stay ahead of and/or hide) this condition since I was a baby.  

Yesterday, my face looked just about perfectly fine, a minor outbreak on my chin but nothing major. This is the difference between 8pm Friday night and 930am Saturday morning:

I've been using a kids and babies lotion specifically for eczema prone skin by a brand called Mustela. The lotion is called Stelatopia and it's worked well enough to keep me from breaking out too badly for a little over 6 months. 

Unfortunately, prednisolone is still my best friend at this moment and the only thing that really clears this much of an outbreak up. I have no idea what keeps causing this as I don't change my routine for skin are or makeup very often.

If you have eczema or know any products that have been tested to prevent/heal eczema flare ups (used by a person, not just labeled that way), I would love to hear about it! Good luck to anyone out there who is powering through the itchy life, or knows anyone who is.