Products tested: Steroid creams, emollient, Dermalex, Calendula, Dr Organic, Aveeno

As soon as the scales starting creeping over my skin, amid revising for my A Levels, my mother rushed me to the the GP, who prescribed a topical corticosteroid (aka, steroid cream). It worked but steroid cream is only for short-term use, to wrangle eczema under control, as it thins the skin. Once that treatment is finished, you’re on your own.

Although I was also prescribed a large tub of emollient (a type of treatment that aims to cover skin with a protective layer), it seemed to have almost no effect apart from making me extremely greasy. I glistened in the sun, like a petulant sausage. It was not ideal.

Seeing my struggle, mum also took me to the local homeopath who used a resistance test to discern my particular allergies (and got me out of eating oranges for ever) and proceeded to prescribe me Dr Organic Manuka Honey Rescue Cream. Her healing powers must have been off that day; the cream left my skin red raw and weeping.

“Stick with it,” my mum said, doubtfully, peering at my cracked and oozing paws. “You’re probably just getting used to it.”

That was the moment that I realised this was a long haul project. Forays into trying Dermalex’s Hand Irritation Treatment resulted in similar angry reactions and even Calendula cream - the method my mum had used to heal my eczema as a baby - was rejected.

Thankfully, help came in the form of Aveeno’s Skin Relief range, which I discovered by chance in Superdrug when I started university in 2013. It didn’t completely heal my skin - and using the thick body cream on my face caused spotty outbreaks - but for the first time, my eczema was manageable and under control. I could put it to the back of my mind and even, on occasion, take a secret pleasure in my facial appearance and how normal I looked.

“I’ve had eczema my whole life; these are the products that really work for me”