What did you do to your hands?

There’s a saying in my house. If you ask a silly question, you’ll get a silly answer.

Over the years my brother and I have put this theory to the test many times. Asking our mum and each other many a silly question, not to mention repeating the saying over and over like a religious verse.

Now that I think about it, the saying probably started as a way for my mum to get some peace from her hyperactive and curious kids.

It did the trick in the end though.

We learnt a lot. We learnt not to ask ‘why Y is a crooked letter’, not to ask ‘why the ground was called “ground” and not the “floor’, and definitely not ‘why “0” could be called zero, oh and nought when other numbers only had one name… (this seemed unfair to me but anyway)

As I grew up I quickly realised the outside world didn’t work as well as we did. The rule no longer applied. And when people asked me stupid questions, I couldn’t give them the imaginative stupid answers I was accustomed to giving. People wanted genuine answers even to the stupid questions.

So whenever I went somewhere new I had to face the same questions over again. Things I’d considered pointless like:

• what is that on your hands?
• does it hurt?
• how did you get it?
• can you wash it off?
• is it contagious?
• did you burn yourself?
• oh right it looks sore, is it sore?

Questions, I never had to answer before.

Instead of saying I had magical powers or you know just lying about it I’d answer…

It’s just eczema, I was born with it.

Then I’d get the common ‘eczema, what’s that?’

Or even sometimes, ‘Ohh I had that when I was a baby but I grew out of it.’

The reality is eczema, is one of the most common skin conditions in the UK.  Research shows although the majority of children grow out of it by the time they’re 16 years old, 1 in 12 adults still suffer.

According to my own internet searches it’s also common among African-Americans. But I can’t find any specific cultural research in to Black, Asian and Ethnic minorities with dermatitis on either side of the pond.

SO where is all this information? And where are all you party people out there like me??

No it’s not ideal, it’s not feminine, nor sexy but it’s very common and people with the condition aren’t talking about it. So I am talking about it.

I am one of the millions of eczema sufferers in the UK. I have dark, ashy, cracked, itchy, patchy misbehaving areas of skin called eczema. I have done for over 20 years.

I’ve decided to stop hiding. So if you want to ask me anything, I’ll do my best to give you a genuine explanation.

And in the spirit of fairness silly questions are allowed

– sometimes x