[magosienne]

Today was my first day at my new job. I work at McDonald's so the first thing we do, of course, is wash our hands. I learned this morning i am allergic to soap. Well, i don't know what crap they use, at home mom swears by Marseille soap (olive oil +soda) and i never had any problem with it. But as soon as the soap was on my hands and arms, itchiness and red patches appeared. I already have atopic eczema, so i recognised the symptoms instantly. And as if it wasn't enough, i sometimes have to use gloves (somehow the clients think gloves are more hygenic than cleaned bare hands ), powdered with talc (GRRR), which my skin doesn't like much either.

So my arms are calling for help ! Do you have any tip i could use ? I know i'll have to be extra generous on the coconut oil and handcream, but how can i manage my eczema at work ?

I know i'll have to pay a visit to the doctor sooner or later, but i'd like your help on how to manage it meanwhile.

[Dragonfly]

Hope this doesn't sound weird:
Some over the counter yeast infection products have a small tube of ointment that is very soothing and helps with itching and redness.
I remember my doctor recommended it for a rash my son had once - and a lot cheaper than a prescription.

Other ideas might be calamine lotion or an over the counter corizone cream.

Can you bring your own soap and gloves to work?

Hope things improve for you

[magosienne]

thanks Carolyn ! i found some talc free gloves i can wear under the talc ones. i can't bring my own soap, sadly. what is ironic is the purpose of washing your hands is to kill bacteria, and i have an anti bacteria gel in my bag.

lol, i don't mind if it's weird, as long as it works, i can't complain. my parents have a tube somewhere, i'll try tonight.

i'll also try to find calamine lotion.

[CellyCell]

That happened to me too when I use to work at the bagel shop. I was really good at washing my hands after I handled meat, cleaned the restaurant or whatever. And my hands suffered so much from the frequent washes! Eek. And gloves where bad too, but we weren't made to wear them... it's like moisture gets trapped in there.

I never brought anything with me at the time so for hours I had blistering hands until I got home and put cream on. But recently, I tried my mom's hand sanitizer that had aloe vera and moisturizer. Those are really good for when you don't wear gloves and don't want your hand drying out but not feeling heavy with cream, ya know?
About the gloves. Maybe asking your boss for certain kind without talc? Or bring your own. There's those thin plastic ones like they use to dye your hair with... those feel better than vinyl or latex gloves.

[magosienne]

i'll try to find some gloves. the problem is those they have without talc don't adhere much to the hand. i tried wearing them under those with talc, but gosh that's like a bad sauna for my hands, and there was a violet circle on one finger, so i'm not sure it helps with blood circulation either. and when i took off the gloves, i saw i had patches on my hand with new skin, yep, my hands were so dried out of moisture the top layer of skin disappeared. lol, mummy hands !

i'm seeing the doctor next monday, it's compulsory for every new job, they just ask you a couple of questions and take a brief look at you to see if you're fit for the job, health wise. i'm wondering if i should talk to her about that.

[magosienne]

yay !! mom ordered some calamine lotion at the pharmacy. actually it's a gel, and it had to be ordered as apparently it's not that popular on that side of the Atlantic ocean. the pharmacist even said it's an old stuff. i'll have it monday afternoon.

[CellyCell]

Cool beans, Aude.

[magosienne]

that calamine lotion is great. thanks guys !!