Hi all!
Been dealing with what I believe to be eczema for a couple of months. At first it was very light, I actually would be fully unaware of my “flare ups” of dry flaky skin on my eyelids until I looked in the mirror and visually acknowledged the skin. In January it started to actually feel itchy and tight and the dryness would hurt. I saw a pharmacist who recommended hydrocortisone and vaseline. I used hydrocortisone (0.5%) for about three weeks. I did find that it worked but the pharmacist hadn’t explained very well the side effects of long use of topical steroids and once I became more knowledgeable on that I switched to the vaseline. The vaseline felt soothing but wasn’t “healing” the way the hydrocortisone was. I used hydrocortisone like once or twice after that when I needed to wear makeup for events because I knew it’d be the only thing that would make my skin “normal”. I tried certain products, namely La Roche Posay Toleriane Eyecream and Cicaplast balm in other parts of my face where I have rashes but that aren’t as bad or delicate as my eyes, like my forehead and around my nose/mouth (I’m pretty sure I have perioral dermatitis). About two weeks ago I had my worst flare up ever on my eyelids and tried calling and optometrist to see if they could do something about that (I’ve been waiting for a dermatologist appointment since February, still on the wait list). My optometrist suggested Blephaderm and prescribed Maxidex 0.1% (Dexamethasone) ophthalmic ointment. She said to try the Blephaderm multiple times a day on my eyelids for about a week and see if that worked on its own. The Blephardem did pretty much heal me in that time (my skin didn’t look perfect and was still kinda flaky visually but I wasn’t experiencing tightness or itchiness, and there was no redness). However this weekend I’ve had another terrible flare up and I’m at my wits end. I’ve read about the dangers of topical steroids and TSW and it really scares. I also read that topical steroids can be really bad/triggering for periorificial dermatitis and I’m scared to make it worse around my nose and mouth…
Anyway, has anyone else tried Maxided ointment around their eyes?
Edit to add: for reference, my Maxidex prescription is only two times a day for seven days max.