For the last number of years, Catherine Markey’s daughter Izzy has suffered from painful dry skin. Izzy, who turns 11 this summer, suffers from the condition on her hands. “Coming into winter, Izzy's skin gets very dry across her knuckles and all the way up to her wrist, where it forms a circle. It’s extremely painful because the skin cracks and breaks all around the knuckle, and she bleeds a lot. When she washes her hands or uses cream, it stings. The skin is so coarse, she catches it in her clothes and on blankets, pulling the dry skin.” 

Her condition first presented when Izzy was six years old and has worsened over the years. “When she got it first, it was quite minor, it was just dry skin. I thought, ‘it’s winter, the change in temperature, indoor heating,’ but the following year it got worse, the year after it got considerably worse, and this year was an absolute nightmare.”

Catherine devoted time and money to a host of different over-the-counter moisturisers in an effort to ease Izzy’s condition. “Nothing is a fast fix and with every single cream that we’ve tried, we’ve given it a minimum of two weeks. We spent quite a bit of money on lots of different creams that we thought would work and nothing did. We went from sensitive ones for kids with eczema-prone skin but, with most of those, the scent was too strong and she was sick with the smell. Then we went for scent-free, right up to high-end and they didn’t do anything. When she put them on, they were extremely painful; they would sting a lot. Anything that stings that much, you’re going to struggle to get a nine-year old to put it on her hands.”

Catherine even sent Izzy to school with her own soap. “I bought a sensitive soap in the natural shop and it was kept in a container on her desk at school. It didn’t make any difference.” 

As her condition grew more painful, bedtime became an upsetting time for the family. “Going to bed, we used to try and put an extra layer of cream on, and every night was a fight. It stung so much, she didn’t want to do it. During the day, she’d put a little bit of cream on and play and forget about it - you can distract children. It’s a lot more difficult when you’re trying to settle them at nighttime and they are getting anxious at the thoughts of putting on cream because it’s going to be so painful. That’s extremely distressing.”

Catherine’s older son, who suffers from a less severe form of dry skin, was also upset by the nightly struggle. “He was saying, ‘it’s very sore, don’t do that to her.’” It was tough to see Izzy upset, she says. “You’d be distraught looking at the tears.”

It seemed like medical intervention was the next step, something Catherine had hoped to avoid given Izzy’s age. “My pharmacist had recommended a number of things and she couldn’t believe they weren’t working. She said the next thing would be something medicated as opposed to over-the-counter, and you really don’t want to go down that route if you can help it. I work with doctors and they had also recommended a few over-the-counter things because she was so young. My next stop would have been a referral to a dermatologist because it was really painful, and then we came across the RELIFE Relizema cream.”

Catherine was introduced to the cream by a person who had used it. “It had worked for her and she said, ‘you have to try this on Izzy.’” Izzy’s first impressions of the cream were positive. “She had a good smell because she was terrified it was going to be really strong. There’s really no smell from it which is good.”

The texture got the thumbs up, too. “She hates anything that is too thick and greasy. She tried a bit and said, ‘this is quite nice.’ She put it on the back of her hands, and it dried in so fast, it meant she didn’t have to sit around waiting for it to dry in, she was chuffed.” 

Within days, Izzy was using the cream without being prompted. “We used to struggle with her: ‘every time you wash your hands you must use a moisturiser,’ that used to be a row, whereas this became second nature because she knew it wasn’t painful. The more she used it, the easier it was to go on, and the more she wanted to use it.”

“For her to have no problem washing her hands and using cream, it’s a weight lifted off my shoulders. You think, ‘dry hands, not a big deal,’ but it is when you have so many tears. The pain was excruciating because of the cuts in between the knuckles.”

Small changes in Izzy’s behaviour indicated that the cream was helping to heal her hands. “Her hands used to bleed, and she was going through plasters like nobody’s business. All that stopped: the plasters, the tissues sitting next to her with little bits of blood. Within two weeks, we were definitely onto a winner, we could tell that this was really working. All the big cracks had gone, the pain was very much lessened.” 

Catherine says she is sticking with this ‘winner’ to treat Izzy's flare-ups. “It works. It’s miraculous for us because we have tried so many. We’ve gone the natural route in the herbal shops, the chemist, the pharmacist and GP recommendations over the counter. The next stop was medication and you don’t want something that harsh on a child’s skin. This has been fantastic for us.”

The texture and scent work in Izzy’s favour while Catherine is pleased at the price. “The fact that it dries in so quickly, there’s no scent and a little goes a long way because it’s so light - it has all the pluses for us. We’ve been doing fantastically well on this. It’s an added bonus when it’s not an extortionate price.”

Nighttimes are no longer a struggle and Izzy can enjoy the simple pleasures her condition had robbed her of. “It’s great now, there isn’t an issue any more. There were certain blankets and sheets she couldn’t use because the material used to get caught in her dry skin. She couldn’t wait to get into soft brushed cotton sheets which she loves and couldn’t use. She’s using those again so she’s thrilled with herself!”

The RELIFE Relizema cream has eased a very painful condition, Catherine says. “There are still days when it flares up, but we just use the cream more liberally then. I’m really impressed, it really is fantastic stuff.”