I used to feel the same way. My legs are as ugly as sin, but I still wear shorts and flip flops. I may be red and bruised but I am still like everyone else. Free to be me.

Hi Kristen! My name is Kristen as well. :-)

I know how ya feel, in terms of eczema and summertime. My eczema is mostly on my back, and I have two dark patches underneath my lesions, so it's a nice little "mish mash mess!" I have a severe form of eczema, where my skin breaks open and bleeds. I have ruined around 15 shirts, with blotches of blood on the back of my shirts. It sucks.

I am fit, and I must admit I have a nice shaped back...but I get paranoid wearing anything that shows my back off during the summer. Kinda hard to hide my back during the summertime, unless I wear my hair very long. If I chop it short, I will sometimes wear extensions or an outright wig to cover my eczema. It sucks, and people can be very cruel, but over time, I have embraced MY choices to make myself feel comfortable--whatever it takes. Life is hard enough, so you have to do what you have to do to make each day as comfortable for YOU as possible.

People who are mean, are going to be mean, no matter what you look like. You're darned if you do, darned if you don't, as they say. For example, if you had perfect feet (ironically, I have great feet, and I bet you have a great back *I* wish I had--lol), girls would be saying jealous things at you about that. So, either way, those types will cut you down no matter what.

My brother has severe psoriasis, and it's all over his body. While standing in line for the Millenium at Cedar Point, I heard a teenager say, "Ewwwww! Look at his LEGS!! What IS that???" My brother is a very laid back kind of guy, so he completely ignored it. I was amazed at how little it affected him. Perhaps he bottled it up--I don't know--but I learned that you pick your battles.

Some people are worth responding to, if the price is low and you know you won't let it get to you and fester. But some people just are not worth it. There has to be a balance to it, or else you will frustrate yourself to death constantly worrying about what people think of your "flaw."

I either ignore it, or say, "Well, I got flaws. But so do you, baby! We all do!" And if the person snidely says anything along the lines of, "yeah, but at least I have so-and-so (nice hair, nice feet, whatever)," I simply shoot back, "That isn't the only thing that defines whether you look good or not. You still have flaws, one of them being your nasty attitude. Expend your energy working on yourself instead of wasting it on me." Then I smile and try to laugh about it inside.

Don't waste your time on people's negativity. My friend, Ron, told me that a person who is nasty to you is really like throwing a pair of jeans in the wash, and when the wash agitates the jeans, the dirt comes out of them. This is how people are. My flaws, your flaws, skinny women, fat women, whatever and whoever it may be...if someone hacks on that for no reason but simply an impulse to do it, it's them being "agitated" like those jeans, and letting the "dirt" and ugliness inside of them, come out.

Moreover, don't waste your time coveting others and what they have. Just try to "fix" or work with what you got, like I do, and what you can't fix or work with, just accept as part of the puzzle pieces of who you are. I've actually "braved" wearing my hair short, without extensions, and my back exposed, and just said "screw it!" :-)

Flaws are made to humble us. Humans are way too cocky as it is, so I believe flaws are there to hopefully keep us grounded.

PS--Sorry so long, but what meds have you tried? What others means have you tried? UV exposure helps eczema a lot.