It has been so bad at times that she has been hospitalised
Louise was signed off from work for five weeks(Image: Louise Wilde/SA Communications)
A woman who was signed off work for five weeks after her severe eczema left customers refusing to let her touch their car keys shares her journey with topical steroid withdrawal (TSW). Louise Wilde, 31, from Nantwich in Cheshire, has suffered with eczema since she was four years old, with flare-ups on the backs of her legs and the crooks of her arms.
By the time she was six or seven, her eczema had cleared after taking herbal supplements and she lived normally until she was 18, when she suddenly developed severe hay fever and her skin became increasingly reactive. Not long after, she started working in a cocktail bar where her hands were constantly wet and she developed pompholyx eczema, a particularly aggressive form of the condition that causes intensely itchy blisters across the hands.
On Christmas Day 2016, her hands became so inflamed, swollen and painful that she had to go to hospital. Every finger was split open, bleeding and weeping. She couldn’t bend them or put on her clothes.
She was prescribed oral steroids by her GP, which cleared the condition temporarily, but it came straight back.
From that point, Louise was stuck in a cycle. Steroid creams were prescribed continuously and the gaps between flare-ups grew shorter and shorter. Eventually, without realising it, she had developed topical steroid withdrawal.
Louise’s customers didn’t want to touch keys she’d touched(Image: Louise Wilde/SA Communications)
“My skin had become dependent on steroids and could no longer function without them,” she said.
The worst flare came in early 2024. She woke up to find her skin deteriorating throughout the day. She had chills, her skin was weeping and her eyes swelled so much she could barely see. At work the impact was terrible.
Louise said: “I work in a client-facing role in the automotive industry and some customers would ask if my skin was contagious or refuse to let me handle their car keys for fear of catching something.”
It got so bad that Louise had to be signed off work for five weeks because she physically and mentally couldn’t cope. Desperate for a long-term solution, she began researching and came across red light therapy at Oh My Glow in Nantwich.
Louise said: “After my very first session using light therapy, which took just 20 minutes, the difference was genuinely immediate. My skin felt calm for the first time in years.
“My husband couldn’t believe it, the redness had reduced, the itching had stopped, and that was the turning point for me.”
Louise had suffered since she was four years old(Image: Louise Wilde/SA Communications)
In the beginning, Louise attended the clinic twice a week and followed a strict no-moisture treatment plan for four months, allowing her skin to relearn how to function on its own.
“It was incredibly tough. My skin became dry, flaky and uncomfortable, but it stopped the constant weeping and allowed it to begin healing properly. Combined with the red light therapy, it sped up my recovery,” she said.
Louise has now been completely steroid-free for 790 days. She still experiences occasional flare-ups linked to hormones or certain foods, but maintains her results with a portable red light device at home and a simple skincare routine recommended by the clinic. She is also a mother of two daughters – Edie, six, and Mabel, nine months old.
Louise says she now has her life back(Image: Louise Wilde/SA Communications)
Louise said: “The impact this has had on my life is huge. Now, I feel like a weight has been lifted. I’m not constantly thinking about my skin or relying on steroids.
“I’ve got my confidence back and can enjoy life again, especially with my daughters. It’s crazy to think that something as simple as red light therapy treatment has completely given me my life back.”
