Eczema Flareups

38 comments

1. using a shower & faucet filter helped my skin

2. I don’t have eczema, but I did get some skin problems in Japan, especially in the summer. I got a rash on my torso, chest, and arms two summers in a row. The doctor said it was probably the heat and humidity. I started biking instead of walking to work and I didn’t get so hot last summer, and I also didn’t get a rash.

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   I also felt like showering whenever I got too sweaty, which in the summer was usually twice a day, also helped. My friend from the Philippines who lives in Japan said that it is actually pretty common to take two showers a day in the Philippines too because of the heat and humidity, so maybe following that would help? Sorry I don’t know if that would make eczema worse or not to shower too often though.

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   I will also say that some people have benefitted from adding a shower head with a vitamin c filter. I know a few other expats who swear by it because they said that the Japanese water was making their hair fall out?

3. Your situation is not uncommon, and many people experience various skin related flare ups after moving here. It could be due to things like differences in climate (specifically more humidity), allergens like specific pollens or dust mites which proliferate in humid conditions, differences in mineral content of the water, or changes in diet to name a few possibilities.

   While I didn’t have issues with eczema, I did have a skin condition on my hands that often comes back in the summertime when things get humid. Avoiding hot/warm water on my hands in the summer and getting a dehumidifier has helped me manage the condition, though I don’t know if that is applicable in your specific circumstance. You might want to see a dermatologist here about your eczema and they might have better advice and ointments for you that are tailored more to the conditions in Japan.

4. My son and I have eczema, he gets it way worse than I do. I pretty much only ever get it behind my knees, but he gets it behind the knees, elbows, ankles and wrists, sometimes even his face in really terrible outbreaks. A few months ago I swapped out our shower head to one that had a filter for hard water (the hard water here is pretty terrible), since my hair had been getting awful tangles and split ends, and probably it’s no coincidence that the filter helped out our eczema dramatically. I’d give that a try.

5. Check if is dietary, maybe gluten, sugar or others.

6. I had a friend tell me that if was air pollution in Tokyo that was causing his. Hit him hard. Moved out of the city and it cleared up.

7. Me too. And as others have mentioned, the difference in geography is definitely a big factor.

   One comment mentioned the heat and humidity, and I agree. The heat and humidity is notorious in Japan. My eczema seems to hate the combo of the two, because it becomes very mild during the colder months.

   Like for example from May to September, my facial eczema flares up massively. To the point that friends and coworkers regularly ask me “What’s wrong?” Because in other times of the year, they’ve been seeing me with out any flare ups.

   I combat it by showering or at least washing my face twice a day. I try to avoid doing stuff that’d make me sweat a lot, standing under direct sun, etc. And it works.

   Also, I found that using CBD balm and coconut oil on my face after a shower/wash makes my eczema disappear completely.

8. When the US occupied Japan after WW2 they found a certain number of people got sick in Tokyo and Kawasaki and when dispatched to other locations in Japan they were fine. It was something to do with the local conditions that they never pinned down. It could be local pollen, pollution etc. If you have too many minor allergens the total reaction to them can tip the body over into a state where symptoms occur so work on reducing every that could possibly give you a bad reaction.

   One more oddball solution. Cut out Soy Sauce. Avoid it totally for a period of time. There is something in residues after fermentation that triggers some people who have a bad reaction to it. It’s worth a try.

9. Same thing happened to me. I had to start going to a dermatologist on a monthly basis to get medicine/steroids to control it.

10. Had perfect skin until moving here honestly.
    I get rashes now and other skin conditions, nothing serious but the doctors do nothing and just say it’s the humid weather, which to be fair is probably right.
    The thing and that helped me a lot was showering way more than I should to get sweat off.
    I shower every morning and night and also weekends when we come back from shopping around lunch time I’ll have a quick shower then as well.

11. I developed all kinds of skin condition when I moved here in Japan. At first, moisturizing and putting lotion on my entire body worked with some rashes or dry patches, depends on the season. I am currently struggling with it recently. Any dermatologist or product you tried that worked?

12. Never had eczema until I moved here. Every winter a new one pops up. Now I have to visit the dermatologist every year for some cream for them to dry up.

13. Same as you. I had it as a kid and it slowed down as a teen. It was mostly under control after college and then my first 15 years in Japan. When we moved to our newly-built home, it flared up especially on my back and my ankles.

    If you want to take the medical route, the local dermatologist put me on the antihistamine, Olopatadine (オロパタジン) tablets, the itchiness disappeared. For very occasional topical use, I got a mix of the glucocorticoid, Voalla ointment (ボアラ軟膏), and Heparinoid cream ( ヘパリン類似物質) that worked wonders.

14. I had this exact samevthing happen to me. We live right in the middle of Osaka, on a busy street. Our apartment building is older, with concrete walls and wood floors, and the dust is an on going battle. I would get flare ups, my eczema is on my ankle. I found out it was a combination of the humidity and the dust, which I’m allergic to, that caused the flare ups. My doctor was able to give me anti itch ointment, and we bought an AC so we could keep the windows closed, which cut down both the dust and humidity in our apartment, which helped immensely with the flare ups.

15. I got it pretty bad in the winter. Cold dry air would wreck me. The room aircons would also dry me out more than usual. I had to use a pretty thick lotion frequently to retain the little moisture my skin would keep. I also had to switch all of my soap and shampoo.

16. I get breakouts on my hands during summer and winter season changes. I assume it’s related to the quick change in humidity.

    > How did you deal with it?

    I go to the dermatologist and get hydrocortisone ointment.

17. Go to a dermatologist and keep trying the offered medicines until you find one that works. Be prepared that it might take a long time to get to the bottom of it as you experiment with each new suggested medicine.

    They’ll usually put you on topical antifungals first, then steroids, and then if it’s still really bad, can consider things like antifungal pills and then sebum blockers. In my case, taking antibacterials for an eye infection actually worked wonders, so I’m looking into that now (and indeed there is some evidence in the literature of antibacterials helping in *some* cases).

    All you can do is work through the options methodically. It’s a very common condition so you won’t need to explain much.

18. How are your stress levels? . Moving to a new country is massively stressful for most people and the immune system might be reacting to this.

19. I’ve been dealing with it recently as well. Haven’t had it in any meaningful way since I was a teenager. Visited a Dr who prescribed steroid cream. Haven’t had to use it since I was a teen, but under duress tried. Worked slightly but immediately flared up when I stopped a week later.

    Tried some Neem cream as an alternative – seems to be working. Might be worth a shot so as to avoid steroids.

20. I had this issue and I went to a dermatologist in Nagoya and they prescribed me a kind of steroid ointment. It worked within like the first 3 days, went away completely with the first week but I kept using it for the prescribed 2 weeks to be sure. It hasn’t flared up to a point where I needed to get another prescription and when it does get rough, I can just use some lotion or otc ointment and be fine.

21. Yeah, same. Also flare ups in Japan. By trial and error I figured out that local detergents are very agressive and with nickel being widespread it results in eczema flare ups.

    As I rule I NEVER use the green liquid soap in the public toilets (once you use it it takes a while to come back to normal) and only use Aigen soap for hand washing at home. Dishes only with gloves too. It really helps.

    Also, I don’t know why, but flare ups outside of hands healed on their own when hands healed.

22. I’ve only ever had eczema on my hands, and the flareups have been less frequent and severe for me since I came here. Not sure why, but I also couldn’t really tell you when or why the flareups would happen before either lol

23. I have eczema that doesn’t really bother me as an adult. I’ve yet to be in Japan in the summer. We usually visit for New Years. Each time my hands and ankles erupt terribly. I took it to be slight differences in the air or some kind of pollen.

24. Skin conditions, even among the natives, seem very common here. I’d be interested to know why.

25. Never had eczema until I moved to Japan. Usually small patches on my ear, hands, and forehead.

26. Wtf are you me? I moved in to japan on march. And exactly the same story as you, but on my hands. Are you from Europe too??

    What the hell, this is eerie

27. Yeah I also developed some sort of skin condition after moving here. Nothing extreme but some redness on my cheeks and behind my ears. Prescribed steroid cream from the doctor works good but I don’t want to use this on a regular basis. So what I do is dry my face very thoroughly and use an aloe vera gel after taking a shower. That has worked for the past couple of years and never had any issues again.

28. I have had eczema since I was a kid and around a week ago it got really bad so I went to a dermatologist.

    The general advice he gave included:

    – After hot showers or baths run cold water on the affected areas: it should help with any scratching or itching urges.

    – If the affected area is usually covered, change clothes half way through the day if possible because sweat will irritate it

    – Ensure that the affected area is exposed to the air at night and not covered with clothes, especially anything thick.

    He prescribed me some cream and after following his advice and applying the cream it’s gone from very bad to almost nonexistent. Because it is starting to heat up and becoming more humid, your eczema is flaring up. I saw another comment about the hard water being a potential issue and it certainly was for me.

    Hope you can get it sorted.

29. use Flocort it’s over the counter eczema topical medicine

30. There’s this cream called Flucort that helps with my eczema. Also, instead of washing with soap use one of those foam body wash. They’re more gentle on the skin

31. omg me too

32. https://preview.redd.it/7zc3xb172c6b1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=76e8aef6cbbdeaf7a1c41ac025b2d7c8418b2ce6

    I used to get terrible heat rashes doing any physical activity in the summer (disc golf, festival drumming particularly) I was also prescribed a steroid cream and anti-itch medication by a dermatologist but was weary of taking it every summer for the rest of my life. I asked at a local pharmacy and they recommended this medicated over the counter cream. I haven’t had a flare up in two years. My two yen.

33. Japan has a very undeveloped attitude towards spraying chemicals for anything, mostly insects. Your apartment might have been sprayed before you moved in as an overly zealous preventative measure. You might be picking up the chemicals on your hands which have thick skin and then touching the only other exposed part of your body, your face which has thin skin.

34. Could be anything, I had a recent weird flare up on my hands and it turned out it was because I changed shampoos.

    Where abouts are you getting it? If it’s all over it could be the water.

35. Does anyone know how well-versed doctors are in diagnosing skin conditions here? Wondering if I should take advantage of the insurance I’m paying for.

36. Humidity?

37. My friend had the exact same thing, he said a humidifier solved it.

38. I have eczema, but it only tends to flare up in the winter here. My body doesn’t seem to like cold, dry air. In your case, it could be the stress of moving to a new country, the change in climate, local allergens, the soap, shampoo, or laundry detergent you’re using here, or a combination of things.

    I’d recommend making some changes to your diet and toiletries to see if anything might be triggering it. In the meantime, you should probably get an antihistamine from your doctor to help manage symptoms until you find the cause