Naomi

Age at interview: 17
Brief Outline: (Text only clips) Naomi has had eczema all her life. As a child she was admitted to hospital for it once, but as she has gotten older she has learned to manage her eczema better. She recommends eating health and drinking lots of water as the best method for treating eczema.
Background: Naomi is 17 years old and a business administrator. She is single and lives with her parents and siblings. Her ethnic background is Mixed (Black Caribbean and White).
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Naomi was born with eczema and feels that her skin condition is something that has always been a part of who she is. She has struggled with it in the past, but as she has gotten older she has learned to control it better. She has a family history of eczema with her mum and some of her siblings also affected by it. As a child, she was once hospitalised for uncontrollable itching due to her eczema. Naomi usually gets eczema on her arms and she also has it come and go in patches on other parts of her body such as her hands, neck, chest and legs.
The area in which Naomi gets eczema changes depending on many factors. For example, she has learned that wearing certain clothing irritates her skin. She tries to stay away from wearing wool and prefers to wear cotton instead. Changes in weather conditions also affect Naomi’s eczema. In the summer months her eczema gets inflamed from sweating and in the winter her skin tends to dry out and sting. She has also found that both rainwater and seawater irritate her skin so she tries to stay covered up if she goes outside in the rain and tends not to go swimming in the sea. Naomi finds it difficult to wear certain types of jewellery and tends to avoid using shower gels, bath bombs and creams with fragrance as these also affect her eczema.
Having eczema has interfered with Naomi’s social activities. She has missed out on seeing friends due to her eczema in the past, although she tries her best not to let eczema rule her life. She finds it difficult when her friends go swimming and she isn’t able to join them. Naomi has struggled with depression and anxiety in the past and feels that her eczema is a contributing factor. However, being able to meet friends has had a positive impact on Naomi and has helped through difficult times in her life. In particular, she found it helpful to speak to a friend with psoriasis who she realised she has a lot of things in common with and who she could relate to.
Naomi often uses the internet as a point of reference for treatments options for eczema and has found that changes in lifestyle can make a difference. Her family and friends often come to her to advice on skincare and she recommends eating a healthier diet and staying hydrated by drinking more water. She wishes that there was an easy cure for eczema, however she understands that this is not the case so she advises others to treat their skin as well as possible with a healthy lifestyle.
The area in which Naomi gets eczema changes depending on many factors. For example, she has learned that wearing certain clothing irritates her skin. She tries to stay away from wearing wool and prefers to wear cotton instead. Changes in weather conditions also affect Naomi’s eczema. In the summer months her eczema gets inflamed from sweating and in the winter her skin tends to dry out and sting. She has also found that both rainwater and seawater irritate her skin so she tries to stay covered up if she goes outside in the rain and tends not to go swimming in the sea. Naomi finds it difficult to wear certain types of jewellery and tends to avoid using shower gels, bath bombs and creams with fragrance as these also affect her eczema.
Having eczema has interfered with Naomi’s social activities. She has missed out on seeing friends due to her eczema in the past, although she tries her best not to let eczema rule her life. She finds it difficult when her friends go swimming and she isn’t able to join them. Naomi has struggled with depression and anxiety in the past and feels that her eczema is a contributing factor. However, being able to meet friends has had a positive impact on Naomi and has helped through difficult times in her life. In particular, she found it helpful to speak to a friend with psoriasis who she realised she has a lot of things in common with and who she could relate to.
Naomi often uses the internet as a point of reference for treatments options for eczema and has found that changes in lifestyle can make a difference. Her family and friends often come to her to advice on skincare and she recommends eating a healthier diet and staying hydrated by drinking more water. She wishes that there was an easy cure for eczema, however she understands that this is not the case so she advises others to treat their skin as well as possible with a healthy lifestyle.
Naomi was unsure about the links between eczema and asthma, but found that there were some shared triggers.
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Naomi was unsure about the links between eczema and asthma, but found that there were some shared triggers.
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Yeah
Is it similar, like triggers that you said about pollen and flowers?
Yeah
Is it mm?
Going outside [laughs] makes me go, "No, can't breathe, go inside." You know, walking and…and now it's really weird – my asthma is bad in the winter, it's very bad, a very…when I recently went to my GP, well the nurse, my nurse practitioner, she was like, "You have to go and see the asthma nurse." I haven’t done it yet, that’s really bad, cos she felt…she heard my chest, said, "That’s really, really, you know very inflamed, you should sort it out." And I said, "Oh it's cos it's the weather." When it gets warmer my asthma's fine, though my eczema – it's never fair on me that, you know. Uh times like Spring isn't too bad because it's a mixture, you don’t have weeks of hotness or weeks of freezing temperatures you know. So, it is a nightmare cos you can't win.
Rain water can aggravate Naomi’s eczema. On one occasion, she was left with a raised scar.
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Rain water can aggravate Naomi’s eczema. On one occasion, she was left with a raised scar.
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Oh wow
You wouldn’t think rainwater, the most natural thing, would irritate skin.
But it does mine. Even on my face, when it rains my face is down, if I had just my scarf I'd have to cover up my face. So, I've realised my skin isn't too happy about rainwater.
Naomi had impetigo when she was younger and had to stay at home.
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Naomi had impetigo when she was younger and had to stay at home.
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OK
Which…that was only when I was a kid, only had it twice, cos my brother got it and he touched me and then I had it [laughs], that was odd. But yeah that was when it was really bad because, you know it's like an infection, so you have to like stay at home, you can't go out cos if someone touches you; touch their own skin, it will spread. So, yeah that was…that was quite…I remember that being painful and crying a lot when I was a kid.
Naomi felt like she stood out at school because of her eczema and skin tone.
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Naomi felt like she stood out at school because of her eczema and skin tone.
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And I was also…I was also, I think…no I wasn’t, there was another person, but there was only two people that were my skin tone as well back then. So, I was bullied for my hair, my skin, everything and it…and as a kid, you know you don’t feel…I never had that much friends, that’s why that friend I've known for thirteen years was the only one I had during that time. So, yeah that, as a kid, I can't really say cos you don’t…you're just a child, you don’t understand feelings that well, you just sort of know, you know you feel sad. I remember refusing to go to school cos I didn’t want people to stare at me and stuff like that. So, it would get quite psychological.
Naomi explains about emotions and eczema.
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Naomi explains about emotions and eczema.
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There have been times when Naomi’s felt suicidal about her eczema.
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There have been times when Naomi’s felt suicidal about her eczema.
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If you are feeling suicidal, you know or you're feeling low, really low, tell somebody. Like I got the courage to tell my mum that I had, I might have anxiety. I went…I had a depression when I was thirteen so that doesn’t help. But that’s over now. But I think out of that I've got anxiety problems so, now everyone…now wherever a job I get next or, even if I make a new friend, I tell them.
Yeah
So that they can understand I'm not going to…I'm not saying I'm suicidal because I want attention, it's cos it's generally you think that. I mean I've never…I would never, ever have the guts to do it, I don’t know how people can do it, it's so…it frightens me to think about it. But when you're in that time and place, when you're sat there itching or you're thinking about…you're relapsing back your life going, 'My life's been crap with this skin, I haven’t been able to have fun, haven’t been able to do this.' That’s when you just think, 'Uh, if I just ended it now would it be over?' and then, at that time you…like my mind just sort of flips and thinks, 'Hang on, look at the positives, you're life aint all negative. You’ve still got all your family – there's people out there that haven’t got parents you know - don’t be moaning about your skin, you know it will go away.' If you take care of it, it will either clear up a bit or could completely go away.
Naomi thinks free samples of medical treatments would be good.
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Naomi thinks free samples of medical treatments would be good.
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Naomi is open about having eczema at work.
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Naomi is open about having eczema at work.
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Naomi gets fed up with people giving her advice but would like to know about the experiences of others with eczema.
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Naomi gets fed up with people giving her advice but would like to know about the experiences of others with eczema.
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