ILLUSTRATION: JESSICA DURRANT/GETTY IMAGES
MY POOR OLD HANDS have been through a lot. For several years now, during the summer, they have erupted with red, fiery, blistered rashes – palms tender and sore to the point where even water is an assault. I’ve always been prone to eczema but, most of the time, there is no sign. I manage it by eating and doing all the right things, but it isn’t always easy. It came on shortly after the birth of my first child. All of a sudden, in the middle of the night, a rod of fire seared through my left palm, and I woke to redness and rash. It went on for weeks and weeks; rough, raw and raging. Dermatologists asked about hand soap and laundry detergent; dieticians, intolerances and allergies; the GP prescribed a steroid cream and petroleum gel.