Finding clues to the sporadic eczema rashes of Ivan from Malaysia

Grew up in Malaysia and Australia, Ivan is a man in his mid-twenties who have come a long way to where he is now – a strong understanding of eczema management, diet control, robust mindset – many ingredients among which contribute to his success in overcoming the worst of eczema outbreaks.

As a reader presumably with eczema: 

• Did you know that Asian cuisines are not entirely safeguarded against eczema triggers? And may in fact be facilitating rashes?
• Did you think that a diet that is far away from a ‘standard western diet’ (which varies widely) is key to treating your eczema?
• Did you think that dietary restriction is just ‘plug and play’ – take one allergen off and eczema will magically disappear?

And I haven’t even mentioned anything about non-dietary factors yet! 

Don’t know the answer to the above? Keep reading and become informed through Ivan’s story.

But let’s start with the results - because that’s what matters most right?

Ivan’s eczema healing journey (before vs. after photos)

Ivan has always had eczema since he was 10 years old. It was on and off growing up, but never to a point of significant disruption in daily life. 

When Ivan transitioned into tertiary years, which is statistically when most people ‘grow out of eczema’ – Ivan did not. 

In his tertiary years in Australia, Ivan’s eczema broke out in places never before, especially in the facial area which affected social life, personal confidence, and were subjected to the curious/judging eyes of stigmatization by those who know less.

Photos of Ivan in his outbreak period:

Ivan had always been a health conscious individual - a personal ‘expert’ - where his family prided in regular alternative medicine in coffee enema detoxes and healthy nutrition. (In WeDerm’s perspective, the former is a personal preference and given the difficulty of establishing literature evidence we do not encourage it, but this is another story and we would prefer to focus on the latter).

Ivan knew the overall direction to treat eczema, and eventually endured through the severe outbreak by himself. But a few years later his skin acted up again and he knew he would NOT want to restart the horrible cycle he had experienced.

That’s when Ivan got in touch with WeDerm, and knew that the team here had a group of individuals who went through the difficult process and would be able to guide him away from worsening eczema (while still in its early stages), perhaps once and for all, to set up a self-sustaining eczema management lifestyle.

No one wants to go through any eczema healing cycle again - a simple truth.

Photos of Ivan when engaging WeDerm:

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Photos of Ivan after 4 months of eczema coaching:

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So what happened during these 4 months? Keep reading…

Challenges before joining the coaching program

Every client who joins WeDerm will first complete an onboarding questionnaire where we learn the current challenges. With Ivan’s consent, this is his initial self-description:

“My eczema happens in certain areas of my body.

Like my Face, Legs, Arms, Ears, Body Regions, Feet & Hands & Lips too...

My Eczema flares up over a time period like a ticking bomb... It doesn't happen immediately, but gradually increases its intensity after consume foods such as uhm eggs,milk,minty stuff & wheat products...

I have Contact dermatitis…”

We had our first brief onboarding call, and Ivan remarked it would be preferable to match with someone who went through the eczema recovery process – and Harrison Li was matched as his health coach. 

After our first coaching session, we identified a list of challenges:

• Ivan’s eczema seemed to be sporadic, at least what the symptoms are giving. Despite Ivan’s personal expertise and experience living with the condition for years, he was not fully sure about the pattern of symptoms. Were there hidden factors at play? 
• Eating healthy was already core to Ivan’s lifestyle, but everyone’s lifestyle includes the occasional social outing, trying new foods and restaurants, and inevitably there are ways for one to exacerbate eczema. Were there ways to avoid problematic triggers on a targeted approach so one can balance eating out and still be eczema-free? Where’s the middle ground?
• Most people with eczema have atopic dermatitis, largely triggered through dietary or psychological factors. But Ivan also had contact dermatitis, specific responses to physical irritants causing the rashes. Were there more? Should Ivan perform a blood test to check for more allergens?

Together with all these things going on and these unresolved questions, Ivan wanted to stop the yo-yo-ing of symptoms, and while the eczema was still ‘early’, to prevent it from worsening.

What happened during the 4 months?

We engaged in 8 coaching sessions in total, once every two weeks. Here are some highlights:

1. Diet management

• Ivan has a multicultural diet, with Malaysian, Chinese, Indian and Western dishes. We had an in-depth analysis of Ivan’s typical 7-day diet, and identified foods that could be furthering inflammation, and foods that were not.
• Ivan was also taking plenty of supplements, so much so that he was almost self-equipped with nutrition without needing to eat food! We ranked the products and identified which would be ‘core’ and which would be less so. We had a clear understanding on what can be easily found in food, and what was worth taking supplements for.
• We utilized the WeDerm Meal Planner - a simple tool to help keep track of dietary management - from restriction to reintroduction. We identified what allergens affected Ivan, and we conducted an elimination diet to restore intestinal strength.

2. Environmental factors and alternative medicine

• We discussed the potential for stool testing and blood testing, but agreed to not do it and opted for personal experimentation, as Ivan already had years of experience and knew his triggers well. 
• With Ivan’s suspected allergens, we experimented with the culprits and found an answer to these suspecting triggers.
• Ivan was passionate about trying new methods in the alternative medicine space including bioresonance and he was an avid coffee enema detox practitioner. We discussed the pros and cons and agreed it was good to go with Ivan’s preference to test new methods on a ‘do no harm’ principle (i.e., if it doesn’t cause much harm, it could be worth trying).

3. Stress, sleep and exercise

Finally, non-dietary factors which could be the missing jigsaw piece to some eczema patients, were not so much a concern for Ivan. His overall healthy lifestyle had taken care of these three factors and we did not have to discuss much about them. 

Ivan did regular sports, slept adequately, and did not really worry about anything other than eczema.

Words from the Health Coach, Harrison Li

Ivan is well researched, personally observant, and aware of the general direction to becoming eczema-free. He also evidently implements a healthy lifestyle (e.g., food choices, exercise). 

However, at times of sporadic symptoms and seemingly ‘not sure where the body is going’, eczema coaching is highly beneficial to help provide a well-structured action plan to ‘plug the gaps’ of eczema management, and resolve any potential blind spots and hidden triggers.

Unlike severe cases especially those going through topical steroid withdrawal, as in the case of university student Esther (click for her 6-month TSW story), Ivan’s condition meant going from a mild state that if unchecked would be worsening, to stop its trajectory and end in a less mild state. This requires thorough ‘detective work’ on what might be causing the body distress and resolving them.

Overall it was highly enjoyable to work with Ivan and our team wishes him a self-sustainable eczema management approach in the coming years with minimal relapses!

Final words to the reader

Are you someone with eczema or one who cares for a child’s eczema? 

We would love to work for you to overcome eczema together. Sometimes, a third-perspective is what it takes to uncover the different factors that stand between a lifelong struggle with the condition, and one who can enjoy a low-itch eczema-friendly life. 

At WeDerm, we spent countless hours developing an evidence-based coaching program. Every session is grounded in a professional clinical system that is targeted to eczema patients. 

Check out our one-off consultation or multi-session coaching plans!

This article is part of ‍WeDerm’s community stories where we feature courageous eczema patients, to demonstrate the power of lifestyle medicine and to inspire more people to overcome eczema together.

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