A nurse suffering from severe eczema as a result of increased PPE amid the coronavirus pandemic claims a £16 skincare product cleared her skin within a week.

NHS nurse Shelley Hadwick has been battling on the frontline against coronavirus for over a year.

A childhood sufferer of the weeping eczema, painful flare ups had troubled Shelley during her teens and 20s.

But she had not suffered  with the conditions for more than ten years before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

Working full time in a GPs’ surgery, stress and increased PPE triggered an acute outbreak of weeping eczema across her face, ears, arms and collarbone, Shelley’s fight against the virus became more difficult.

Shelley, 58, believes added layers of personal protection, and particularly face masks, contributed most to her skin itching, cracking and weeping.

The nurse said: “We have to wear PPE every time we see a patient. It makes you sweat,” she said. “With continuously wearing the face masks, the sweat caused my nose and my face to come out in rashes.

“My ears would weep so badly, cracks formed in the skin behind them. I often had to peel the hair out of the cracks. My eczema also got much worse in the crooks of my arms, and around my collarbone.

“I'd be sat there at work, just continuously itching and scratching it. Even colleagues at work said, "For God's sake, stop scratching.”

Shelley battled irritation and agony at the surgery, and tried prescription steroid creams, OTC antihistamines and cooling pads until her eczema worsened and began to weep.

Epping Forest Guardian: NHS Nurse Shelley Hadwick had not for more than ten years before the coronavirus pandemic.NHS Nurse Shelley Hadwick had not for more than ten years before the coronavirus pandemic.

She said: “I took antihistamines to stop the itching, but the itching wouldn't stop. I put cool pads on my arms to calm the inflammation and stop me scratching. I used a strong steroid-based cream called Fucidin. It didn’t do anything for it.”

When pharmacy treatments failed her, the career nurse decided to research natural balms and found pure jojoba butter, squeezed from jojoba seeds.

After using the £16 skincare product from Mrs Frisbee’s. Shelley found that here eczema cleared within a week.

She said: “I took antihistamines to stop the itching, but the itching wouldn't stop. I put cool pads on my arms to calm the inflammation and stop me scratching. I used a strong steroid-based cream called Fucidin. It didn’t do anything for it.

“I wanted something natural and had read about jojoba butter, so, I did my research, read up about it online. Other eczema sufferers were saying it worked. 

“I ordered some straightaway from a company called Mrs Frisbee’s All Naturals. I've used its products before, they're all 100% natural so I knew it wouldn't exacerbate anything.

“The parcel arrived on my way to work. Then that night, I used it when I came home from work. I put it on my arms at first because they were driving me mad. I took my little finger, just took a little bit off the top of the butter, and rubbed it on gently.”

The nurse from Blackpool said the cream helped sooth her skin irritations almost instantly.

“Within half an hour, the itching had stopped. I just sat there and went, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing.’ I kept applying it every hour for the rest of the night,” she said.

“When I woke up the next day it wasn't weeping anymore. All of the oozing had stopped. I wasn't itchy. You could see the difference clearly. After another two days all redness had gone completely.”

She added: “Easily within a week, all of my eczema had gone. My skin was nice and smooth and soft. Since then it has been back to normal. I’m still PPE’d up all of the time, but without eczema.”