Need help clearing possible eczema from exposure to cold dry air
I live with an elderly person, which means the house is too hot and dry to be comfortable. We live in upstate NY, and the dry heat is particularly intolerable in the wintertime (I live upstairs, where all the heat concentrates).
In a vain effort to cool off while sleeping, last winter around Christmas I opened the window near my bed while it was below zero and extremely dry outside. The next morning I woke up with my skin swollen and inflamed around my eyes, inflammation on my wrists, face, and neck, and red bumps over my arms. Basically, everywhere that was exposed to the cold dry air.
I started using Vanicream moisturizer as a treatment, and quickly switched to covering my face and arms with Vaseline. That started reducing the inflammation within a week, and I switched from Vaseline to CeraVe Healing Ointment (CHO), and this seemed to speed up my recovery. Most of the red bumps and inflammation have disappeared, but some inflammation still remains.
My recent treatment regimen looks like this: I put a layer of Vanicream on my arms, neck, and face, and put CHO on around my eyes and the inflamed spots on my wrists. Before bed I add another layer of Vanicream, but also put on CHO over my entire forearms and the back of my hands, and then put on cotton sleeves and gloves to keep it from rubbing off on my sheets. Over the past month I've also used 1% Hydrocortisone ointment on the problem areas on my wrists, which does seem to help (the CHO alone wasn't making it go away). All this keeps the inflammation under control, but I still haven't managed to get rid of it entirely, and if I let up it quickly comes back with a vengeance.
The only change I've made is for the past week I started using Aveeno Baby Eczema Therapy Moisturizing Cream with 1% colloidal oatmeal to see if it would make a difference. So far, it's unclear if it works any better than the Vanicream.
Any suggestions on how I can get rid of this once and for all? I'm been doing this regimen for 6 months, and it's really getting tiring. I should also note that I've never had skin problems before, rarely even needing lotion during the driest time of the year.