Patient profile

Q1. When and how did you discover that you had eczema?
I developed eczema when I was one year old. I have suffered from the skin disease chronically on and off throughout my entire life. It has flared up to the stage where I’ve been hospitalised after reacting to everything I ate, touched and everywhere I went. I currently have my eczema under control after seeing many doctors throughout my life and trying countless treatments and remedies.

Q2. Can you explain the eczema flares that you experience?
When my skin flares up, it’s extremely itchy and dry, and it gets to the point where I have to scratch it so hard that I break the skin to get relief. Then my eczema spreads. It starts as a small patch and once I itch and scratch that area, it gets worse and worse. I do a lot of damage to my skin during the night while I’m asleep. When my skin is badly infected, it weeps, bleeds and I am then placed on antibiotics.

Q3. Do you have a family history of eczema, hayfever or asthma?
My Dad had eczema as an adult. My siblings all had eczema briefly when they were children. My Mum suffers from hayfever.

Q4. Does eczema affect your quality of life?
Eczema greatly affects my quality of life. I have spent years of sleepless nights scratching all night. I’ve woken with bloody sheets sticking to my skin. If I don’t sleep, I function really poorly during the day. There have been many different types of events that I’ve turned down because of my skin. I haven’t been able to play sport all of my life because of my skin. I also haven’t had as many relationships as I could have because of the embarrassment that I’ve endured due to my skin.

My self-esteem and self-confidence drop to an all-time low when I’m suffering from eczema. The skin disease also affects my work. I went through a full year where I was physically unable to work because of my eczema. And because I wasn’t earning, I couldn’t afford to pay for the treatments that I required. So it was a viscious cycle. You really need family support when you get sick with eczema, as you can go into remission with this skin disease.

Q5. How burdensome is your eczema?
Eczema is a horrible, horrible disease. It affects you in every single way you can imagine. When you’re an adult with eczema, people can’t understand what you’re suffering from, or they think that it’s contagious, which is really hard. I have olive skin and have suffered permanent scarring from the disease.

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To organise an interview with Felicity Cole, please contact Kirsten Bruce or Ruby Archis from viva! communications on 02 9884 9011 or 0401 717 566 / 0413 834 906.