Varicose Vein Eczema

[Linzi84]

My gran has Varicose Vein Eczema on her shin. The whole of her shin is a deep purple colour and it itches her like mad. The doctor has given her Fucibet cream and she has been through two lots of it and it doesn't seem to have done anything at all. She told the doctor it is no better but he still insists that she just carries on using the cream. Is there anything else that can help?

[maitre d']

Linzi - I've got a similar patch on my ankle.  Try Bio-Oil, It's not cheap at nearly a tenner a go, but it does stop the itching.  It works for me anyway.

[brawburd]

if there has been no change at all she should ask for referral to a dermatologist.  There is a risk of skin ulceration.

[woofgang]

i was going to say the same thing as Brawburd. She shouldn't mess about, if her GP won't refer her on then IMHO a change of GP is indicated!!

[sandbach99]

My husband has arthritis and had shins that itched like mad, he scratched until he bled he went to the doctor a

nd had lots of different creams none of which worked.
I went to a Primary Care Trust meeting on another matter and one woman there said "don't have aspartame if you have arthritis"  on returning home I searched the web as I had never heard of it. It is an artifical sweetner used in a lot of diet foods, on finding an American site it listed a load of symptoms attributed to this stuff some of which my husband had including an itchy rash.  We rarely eat processed foods and never ate diet products so we started reading labels on everything. It is in ordinary Robinsons orange juice, Schweppes ordinary lemonade, Schweppes peppermint cordial, some ciders etc. He stopped drinking the above and within 48 hours his rash started to go. Its' worth a try. By the time we found out the rash had spread to his arms, now some 6 weeks on he has flare ups if he eats or drinks something which contains it, but he is more alert has more energy aches less. I have posted similar in a response to an arthritis question, sorry to repeat myself