A woman who was prescribed steroid creams for eczema when she was just 2 years old has documented the pain of what living with topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) looks like.
Jia Patrick has suffered from eczema for as long as she can remember, having spent more than 16 years using topical steroids to treat it. She was around 2 when she was first prescribed steroid creams, and they became a prominent option throughout her childhood.
While the steroids would sometimes help, Patrick, 23, told
Newsweek that, every time she finished the cream, her eczema would return "with a vengeance." It became even itchier, flakier and more painful than when she started.
By 2019, Patrick, from the U.K, became far more aware of the negative effects the steroids were having. By that point, she was a teenager with more understanding of her body and wanted to make a change
I experienced a burning sensation upon every application, which prompted me to look into the efficacy of using topical steroids for eczema," Patrick said. "I remember seeing an infographic outlining the side effects of topical steroid creams for
skin conditions including eczema, with the title ‘topical steroid withdrawal,’ a term I had never heard before."
After doing a small amount of research, Patrick stopped using all topical steroids to treat her eczema. Upon learning about TSW, she was concerned about further health implications—not realizing that, by suddenly stopping all use, her
skin would suffer, nonetheless.
Just one week after she quit using all steroid creams, Patrick experienced symptoms that she now realizes were the early signs of TSW. "I had no idea how severe the symptoms would be. My face became red, and I began developing dark, thick patches that were rapidly spreading from the inner folds of my arms," she said.
