Skin care weblog

I have eczema. The first time was when I was a young child,
too young to remember the occasion. When I was 18, the problem
came back and Army medics gave me an ointment that quickly
eliminated it. When I was 52, the problem came back and a doctor
prescribed an ointment that just made the problem worse. The
doctor told me to continue the treatment, but I could not bear
the pain and itching. As messy and ugly as it was, I used pine
tar and the problem went away.

About 10 months ago, at the age of 55, it started again as a
reddish blotch on my left cheek, spread to my right cheek, then
chin, earlobes, inside my ears, chest, elbows, inner thighs, and
scalp. The itch has been so maddening that I often woke up in
the mornings with bloody cheeks and earlobes because I had
scratched myself while I was asleep. I tried everything, even

another doctor’s prescribed ointment, which seemed to help
some, but was too expensive for me. I also tried the lemon
juice diet and it did not help at all.

I tried Barlean’s flax oil orally and, after several weeks,
noticed a decrease in the flakes and weeping secretions.
Again, however, that was too expensive for me at $20 a pint,
so I had to discontinue that. The problem came roaring back
and was unbearable. In desperation, I bought a gallon of
linseed oil at the hardware store for $8.49, since linseed oil is
the same thing as flax seed oil. Well, it is the same, but the
stuff at the hardware store sure tastes a lot worse than Barlean’s
flax oil.

Since I was unwilling to drink the linseed oil, I applied it
topically. After a few minutes of intense itching, the itching
subsided in about 15 minutes. Although badly scarred from
my scratching it previously, my skin has cleared and I no
longer scratch it during my sleep. However, I have to
apply the linseed oil several times a day or the problem
will get worse. I’m just grateful for the relief it provides.

Hope this information is of help to some of the people who
are suffering from itching skin, whether it be because of
eczema, psoriasis, or any other problem.

Lester McConnell

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 8th, 2003 at 8:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.