‘Sweat leads to grief’: S’pore woman, 34, shares how eczema has affected her daily living & how she’s learnt to cope

Pickleball, nature walks and evening runs — these are all activities that you wouldn’t think twice about doing if you’re looking for a pastime.

For others who live with eczema however, such as Ursula Soh, 34, they are all things to agonise over.

Sweat leads to “grief” — that was how Soh described the consequences of her choosing to do any of those things.

Soh has been living with eczema since birth.

Fortunately, she has found ways to manage her condition, which allows her to live life as agony-free as possible.

A chronic condition

Eczema is a condition that affects all ages.

20 per cent of school children in Singapore suffer from it and about 30 to 40 per cent of adults remain symptomatic.

There is no single known cause of eczema, and it can result from a combination of factors including family history, changes to the immune system and environmental exposure.

In my head, I had a particular image of a person living with eczema.

I thought I’d meet someone with obvious dry and red skin.

When I met with Soh, the symptoms were not obvious. Instead, her skin looked clear and she looked to be in high spirits.

However, she reminded me that eczema is a chronic condition that doesn’t just go away and her flare-ups are usually limited to areas from the neck down.

Waking up to flaked skin and blood

For a while, Soh lived overseas in cities like Sydney and China.

Their colder seasons soothed her eczema so much that she forgot she even had it in the first place.

However, when she returned to Singapore around 2008, her eczema also returned with a vengeance.

Her most serious flare-ups occurred sometime around 2011 and 2012.

“It was so bad that my bedsheets were stained with blood,” Soh said.

“Every single day, when I woke up, the first thing I did was to sweep all the dead skin off the bed because I’ve been scratching throughout the night,” she recalled about her flare-ups during that period.

The worst part was being kept up by all the itching and scratching, which left her with heavy eye bags the next morning.

“If you don’t sleep for one day, it’s fine. But if it’s every day consecutively for a long period of time, it can really get to you,” Soh explained.

Heat and sweat are the biggest triggers for her eczema.

Stress can also cause a flare-up.

Flare-ups are an annual affair for Soh, with the most recent one being in late October.

She had been preparing for a presentation in Melbourne, which came with considerable stress.

This recent flare-up has mostly subsided, with some patches of irritation left around areas such as her neck.

Prior to this, she also suffered a flare-up during the Hungry Ghost Festival, which she speculated was due to the smoke and drier weather.

Her experience may sound terrible, but Soh told me that others can have it worse.

In severe cases, patients experience pain almost every second due to cracked skin.

“Just imagine your whole body being covered in cuts,” Soh described.

Foregone experiences

Eczema woes go beyond the physical too.

For one, Soh had to give up seafood.

“I love salmon, I love sushi, but I can’t eat it,” Soh lamented, adding that she still indulges in it occasionally, albeit in small amounts.

As much as Soh enjoys being outdoors and going on nature walks, she’s had to give them a miss too.

Her flare-up after returning to Singapore was so bad that she had to quit her retail job and find one that was indoors.

“It affects my social life. I want to go play pickleball … I always have to think about the consequences. Unlike everyone else, you know, sweat is a very normal thing for people. For me, it causes me grief. It makes me itch. It’s something that’s very troublesome to deal with.”

Some habits to curb flare-ups, such as religiously checking weather forecasts, have become second nature, so much so that she sometimes forgets that they aren’t routine for others.

Uma Alagappan, who runs The Dermatology Clinic and has been treating eczema patients for more than 13 years, commented that eczema affects not just patients, but their family members too.

“It is a multisystemic disease that affects not just the skin but also every aspect of the patient’s life and health,” Uma added.

Infections, lack of sleep, poor confidence, poor school and work performance are all possible complications arising from severe eczema.

Beyond these, patients may also experience depression and anxiety, Uma added.

Treatment and management

Throughout the years, Soh was put on various treatments to manage her eczema.

For a while, she took oral steroids, which she explained were used to manage more intense flare-ups.

For other patients, they may require sophisticated treatments such as “phototherapy, immunosuppressants or biologics”, Uma shared.

Apart from medical treatment, Soh does her best to avoid heat and sweat.

Daily moisturising is also a must.

Uma explained that the skin barrier plays a “key role” in the development of eczema.

“As such, repairing and maintaining a strong skin barrier will help treat and prevent eczema,” she explained.

Moisturiser a daily necessity

When I asked Soh and Uma more about moisturisers for eczema, it quickly became clear that picking the best one was both an art and a science.

Uma’s suggestion is that a thick moisturiser with good skin repair ingredients such as ceramide will be good for night-time use.

It’s also best to avoid ingredients such as fragrances, sulphates or parabens as they can be irritants.

Besides these, Uma advised against using combination products such as moisturisers that boast sunscreen properties.

“The concentration of each active ingredient is lower and may not have much clinical effect,” the doctor explained.

Most importantly, patients should take into account things like day-to-day activities, skin type and the area of application.

“Active patients who spend time outdoors or acne-prone patients should choose a thin moisturiser that is not too greasy, especially for the face, neck and flexures,” Uma suggested.

Soh echoed Uma’s suggestions, adding that she personally looks out for moisturisers which are “non-sticky” and “fast-absorbing”.

“I hate the [sticky] feeling. Some creams are very moisturising but heavy, and the feeling you get is very uncomfortable,” Soh elaborated.

“I want something that is great and also moisturising, which is very hard to find,” Soh said.

In terms of application, Soh has adopted the soak-and-seal method and she recommends that other patients try it too.

Locally-formulated moisturiser

One moisturiser that Soh has tried is AweMed’s Repair+ Daily Moisturiser.

The moisturiser checks the boxes described by Uma, and then some.

It combines ceramide, cholesterol and fatty acids in an optimal ratio to repair the skin barrier and lock in moisture.

It also contains licorice extract, an anti-inflammatory ingredient to reduce swelling and control itch.

The moisturiser also features Zinc PCA, which helps to limit the growth of impurities on the skin's surface.

Just as important is what it leaves out — no fragrance, parabens or steroids — making it suitable even for children’s skin.

Not forgetting, AweMed is a Singaporean brand and its products are developed together with dermatologists and paediatricians.

That means they are formulated with an understanding of the profile of a patient in Singapore.

“I find that they do the job, and they’re also very light. That’s what I like about it. I would recommend people try it,” Soh described.

AweMed’s products are not just for adults with eczema. Those with sensitive skin seeking quick relief from itch can also use AweMed’s Spray.

AweMed also recently launched its Nappy+ Diaper Barrier Cream, formulated with ceramide and a probiotic complex to treat and prevent diaper rashes in babies while protecting adults with incontinence-related skin irritation.

Find out more about AweMed’s line of derma products here.

From now until Jan. 15, 2026, you can also purchase AweMed products from Shopee with the following promo code to get a 10 per cent discount: AWEMS10.

Community

After spending much of her life dealing with the condition, Soh founded “Eczema Support Group Singapore” for fellow eczema patients, which currently has almost 4,900 members on Facebook.

Through social media pages and annual meet-ups, members exchange tips on how to cope with the condition.

More importantly, the group brings people together and makes the journey less solitary.

Today, Soh works as a public relations professional representing pharmaceutical firms, which she found through her peers in the community group.

Beyond management and moisturisers, her parting advice to fellow patients was:

“Don’t be self-conscious. Don’t feel ashamed. … Surround yourself with people that can support you. That’s a big part of it.”

This sponsored article enlightened the writer on the experience of an eczema patient.

Top image via Mothership, AweMed