I am writing this blog post from the perspective of a natural cosmetics manufacturer. When I started out as an entrepreneur, I imagined that the greatest moment of success would come when I could bring bread to the table for my family and earn money from my work. I was wrong. The feeling of success and the meaning of my work came when I realized that I was really helping people. I am not a dermatologist and I have no personal experience with topical steroid addiction or TSW (Topical Steroid Withdrawal). I feel like I am more of a channel for this surprisingly common skin problem. I hope that as many people as possible would avoid this painful and even socially limiting disease and that information about the possible harm caused by cortisone creams would reach as many people as possible, especially parents of small children.

It's great that my products have given many people glowing skin, lush hair, or fresh underarms, but when customers started coming to me and saying that it relieved their constant skin irritation or long-lasting pain, I felt like I had done something truly remarkable. I'm so grateful for this feedback.

Salla (on the right) came to the fair to thank me for making these products.

At this year's (2022) I Love Me fair, customer encounters and especially repeated feedback played the most important role in easing the symptoms of TSW, or weaning from medical ointment addiction. A year ago, I had not even heard of this skin problem caused by medical and cortisone creams. The problem has clearly become more common. It is unfortunate that the statistics do not show the increasing prevalence of this phenomenon, because TSW as a whole is not recognized in public healthcare. Many people suffering from medical ointment addiction may be incorrectly diagnosed as atopic. In the future, I plan to write a blog post about the differences between these two conditions (atopy vs. TSW). This disease caused by a synthetic stress hormone could be avoided, but there is no public discussion about it. You can also read Hanna-Kaisa's TSW healing story here .

Salla's story

"So I've been using mild cortisone creams since I was a child for atopy. The use was quite irregular. As an adult, the problem area was mainly the eyelids. A couple of years ago, even cortisone didn't help anymore, and my eyes, around my mouth and neck were on-off red.

One difference between atopic skin and TSW is that the rash areas of a person with TSW skin are often symmetrical. The reddened areas are like mirror images on different sides of the body.

I started TSW in May 2021 right after I read about it. The symptoms matched my symptoms perfectly. After stopping using cortisone creams, the symptoms appeared about a week later. The rash and redness moved throughout my body. The symptoms were really severe, completely different from any rash I had experienced before. The worst phase lasted about 6 months. After that, the symptoms subsided and now, after about 1.5 years, my eyelids still swell and become flaky, but they calm down in about a week.

During the worst times, I used calendula cream and zinc cream, as I mentioned.

- The zinc cream seemed to dry/sooth the skin that was oozing tissue fluid. At the moment I have occasional skin folds and the zinc cream calms it down in three days. My children also tend to get skin folds and this works for them too. I also put the zinc cream on my face during the worst times. It worked well for that too.

- Both products were attractive due to their short ingredient list, natural cosmetics and domestic origin.

"At the moment, my skin is in such good condition that I could probably do without creams. I only use oils on my face now. Before TSW, the idea of ​​not oiling myself after a shower was impossible."

T. Salla

Cortisone, a synthetic steroid medication, can temporarily relieve symptoms, but it never eliminates the root cause of the rash or disease.

Our bodies have an incredible ability to heal, balance and cleanse themselves. Often, the appearance of liver spots, rashes and symptoms on the skin is a sign that the body is cleansing. Long-term use of medicated oils can damage the hormonal function of the entire body, replace natural cortisol production/stress response, weaken vascular health and expose us to many other diseases, including adrenal insufficiency. Everything we put on our skin affects our body.

Also read other blog posts on the same topic:

More information about TSW and topical steroid addiction: