Welcome back to our sixth installment of SKIN Journeys: a series where we spotlight members of our community for their incredible eczema success stories. Here, in their own words, they get real about their personal experiences with eczema and the impact it’s had on their lives — as well as how Gladskin ultimately changed the game for them.
Meet Emily, a real estate professional, travel enthusiast, and inspiring member of the Gladskin community. Below, Emily shares her journey of identifying her eczema triggers, and how Gladskin is finally helping her heal.
A Lifetime of On-and-Off Skin Struggles
“I had eczema when I was a kid. I just had little flare-ups on my elbows or behind my knees. Then it kind of went away. Later, I had flare-ups here and there throughout being a teenager and college years, but it was never persistent.”
“I cut out dairy and gluten when I was in college, and both of those changes really reduced the frequency of all of the different skin problems I was experiencing. So, for like two years pre-COVID, my skin was really great.”
When Things Got Really, Really Bad
“Then at the beginning of COVID, I started having what I thought were seasonal allergies, and then that started manifesting as eczema all over, and it just kept getting worse. It started with the normal elbows and knees, and then it got to the point where I had really bad eczema on my eyes.”
“It was difficult to work. I was actually missing work because I couldn’t look at a screen for hours on end. It got really bad.”
“I used to work in Boston as a real estate property manager and also a group fitness instructor. So I was teaching a ton of classes every week, obviously in-person before COVID. Then when COVID happened, I stopped teaching classes in-person, and I just really wasn’t about virtual teaching.”
“I ended up leaving my teaching positions and working remotely in real estate. My boyfriend has to travel for work, so we purchased a travel trailer so he could still do the in-person traveling he had to do, but we could do it socially distanced.”
“We got the travel trailer, and that’s when things got really, really bad for me. It was June 2020 through February 2021. I tried all different kinds of things... could never really figure out what was triggering it and could never find anything to help manage the eczema I was experiencing.”
“I even did a couple different courses of oral steroids, and I had topical steroids, and really nothing seemed to give me consistent improvement.”
Uncovering Hidden Allergies… Finally
“We started troubleshooting stuff in the trailer, and when we took out the mattress, my symptoms immediately improved exponentially.”
“I also tried lots of different lotions designed specifically for eczema, and then when I saw my allergist, who gave me a couple different creams. Some of them stung a little bit. Some of them even made me more itchy.”
“So my allergist did a patch test and found out a bunch of skincare ingredients I’m allergic to. Then I readjusted and looked specifically for skincare products that didn’t include these seven different ingredients.”
Finding a Gentle Yet Effective Topical Solution
“The Gladskin Eczema Cream didn’t contain any of these ingredients, and when I tried it, it kind of seemed to check all the boxes. It seemed to be moisturizing for my skin. It has a little bit of a residue right away, but then it dissipates pretty quickly, as opposed to a lot of the other lotions that you kind of feel like you have this layer on you for a long time afterward.”
“And then I think it did whatever magic with my skin microbiome and actually made my skin healthier. It’s so frustrating, because I can’t even put into words the subtlety of it, but I think when your skin is in that bad of a place, you just feel the improvement, and obviously I can’t really explain what’s actually happening, but it provided a holistic level of support.”
“Gladskin was one of the things I tried during all of this, and Gladskin was actually the only thing that gave me consistent improvement [along with removing allergens]. My skin was just so much better. My quality of life improved so much with Gladskin.”