Ruth, 57, runs a family business with her husband Simon, 58, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Ruth says;
“Soon after entering the menopause about three years ago, I broke out in facial eczema having never had any eczema before in my life.
It started on my eyes lids that became red, swollen and very painful until I could hardly open them. Then is spread all over my face and neck.
Nothing from the doctor or chemist worked, in fact many thigs made my skin worse. I was getting married in a matter of months and so I was in a desperate state about my skin.
My skin got to the stage where it was so painful I had to lie with cold packs to cool my skin to try to prevent me from scratching.
I was horrified when I saw my reflection looking back at me in the mirror. I hardly recognised myself. Simon and I were due to get married and I was in a panic about my wedding day being ruined by the state of my skin.
Firstly, I called my doctor. Getting through to the surgery was near on impossible. It took me over four days to finally talk to a receptionist. A nurse then spoke to me over the phone. We ruled out the possibility of hay fever and diagnosed that it could be conjunctivitis because my eyes were so sore. I was prescribed antibiotics.
After a week on antibiotics my skin deteriorated badly. Bright lights or even watching television made my symptoms worse. Even a slight breeze would sting my raw red skin.
I felt so embarrassed and self-conscious that I started avoiding people. I even stopped walking my dogs at one stage.
I eventually managed to get an actual sit-down appointment with my GP, who prescribed eye drops. This still did not improve my eyes.
At this point I couldn’t sleep and was feeling lower than ever. I was getting up 6-7 times a night to try and soothe my skin.
I eventually lost all faith in prescription products and resorted to spending a small fortune on OTC remedies for my face and eyes, which weren’t helping my symptoms, if anything they got worse. The stress of the expense of buying endless treatments that didn’t work was also contributing to my worsening condition.
A trip to the opticians had me finally diagnosed with blepharitis.
I had never heard of blepharitis before and was shocked to find out from my own research later that menopausal blepharitis was a common problem with menopausal women. Why had no one mentioned this to me?
By this stage my wedding was six weeks away and I was getting desperate and miserable about the state of my skin. How could I walk down the aisle with my face looking so raw and red? This wasn’t the image of myself that I had dreamt about for my wedding day.
I didn’t want to resort to using chemical steroids on my face, especially around my eyes as I knew they can cause permanent thinning and damage to the skin.
After confiding to a friend who I knew suffered from ocassional eczema about how devaststed I was about my skin she told me about Hydrosil products that she had been using for her eczema which were specially designed for face eczema and eye eczema which contained a vine extract that was a plant version of chemical steroids, which was much safer to use on the face and around the eyes, especially for sensitive and fragile menopausal skin. She had been using the products for herself for years and highly recommended them.
I went onto their websiteand saw that they had lots of information about menopausal eczema and menopausal blepharitis. It was such a relief to see a company that actually not only knew about this condition but made products for it too.
I immediately brought the turmeric butter & milk salve for the eczema on my face and the dry eye gel and dry eye concealer for the eczema around my eyes
The reuslts were nothing short of incredible! The products didn’t sting my skin like so many other products that I had used previously. They were non-irritating and my skin instantly felt cooler and looked less furious and irritated.
Within a few weeks my crazy skin felt almost back to normal. These products had worked better than anything from the doctors.They were the first and only thing that didn’t sting my skin and quickly got my furious skin under control.
Its thanks to these products that my skin looked clear and calm on my wedding day. I don’t know what I would have done without them.
These products are now a firm part of my skincare routine as they keep my symptoms under control. It’s been such a relief to have found something so effective for controlling my menopausal eczema flares without any negative side effects as the products are mostly natural.”
