Lots of problems. Are they related?

[gau9665]

[DISCLAIMER: This is going to be really long and winding. I'm not sure what info is necessary so I have written everything out. I have had problem after problem and am starting to get a little worried. Thank you if you take the time to read through this and offer any advice.]


About 3 weeks ago I found two cold-sore-like red painful itchy bumps on my lips and my lips felt extremely dry and chapped. I also had my wisdom teeth removed around this time and eventually the sores went away after a few days.

However, 2 weeks ago things started to go horribly wrong. My left eye started itching like crazy and it continued to get progressively worse (I admit I rubbed my eyes, bad idea). My eyes had been quite red for about a month but it hadn’t been so itchy and I would just use lubricating eye drops. I quickly realised that the skin around my eye started to become red, itchy and scaly, reminiscent of eczema or some other dermatological condition, and this red scaliness was particularly bad on the eyelid. In fact, it gave the skin around my eye a badly wrinkled, slightly swollen appearance. I would wake up in the mornings and find my left eye “glued together” with this crusty, faintly yellow stuff and I would have to pry it open. After about a week of this, I visited a doctor. She diagnosed it as conjunctivitis and gave me Chlorsig to be applied in the eye three times a day. I have been doing so for the past week (9 days) yet my eye is still itchy and red (although some of the wrinkling went away) but there has definitely been some improvement.

May be of note that I had mild eczema as a child, only around my elbow creases. The eczema flares disappeared in my teens but last year I ended up developing some eczema just above my nose bridge, between my eyebrows, and I was given some cream to apply. It didn’t help and only made the skin worse (wrinkled) so I stopped using it. It has NEVER affected my eyelids like it has this time. Lately, I have itchy dry areas on the back of my hand too.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of my problems. Soon after I visited the doctor, I found my scalp excruciatingly itchy and I would pick at it slightly only to discover spots of crusty yellow raised lumps – I thought I must have bled and it formed scabs. At first it was just a little area at the back of my head but then I found it all over the rest my scalp too. Whenever I touched my head and scratched it ever slightly, it would rain these dried out specks onto the back of my clothes. It was a crazy amount. A couple of days after this problem started I also noticed I had developed a small raised bump under my left armpit that looked like it was from under the skin. No difference in colour compared to my skin.

I ended up seeing a different doctor (this was a week ago) and he diagnosed it as folliculitis. He also noticed the itchy skin and said it seemed to be eczema but he couldn’t do much for it. He prescribed me Keflex and I have now finished the course, although I didn’t notice much effect. Likewise there has been no change to the lump under my armpit. Instead the pharmacist recommended Selsun Gold Shampoo, which I have used twice. Each time has given me about a day-and-a-half of relief and visibly reduced dandruff(?)/specks after each wash although it gets super itchy again and the specks reappear over the following days.

Just today I have noticed itchiness all around my mouth and my lips have been very dry and itchy in particular. No amount of beeswax lip balm seems to help. I have also noticed very prominent white scaliness of the skin surrounding the lips, particularly the upper lip and the entire mouth area is very noticeably red. I looked up the itchiness of my lips online and I found articles saying it could be angular cheilitis. Furthermore, my right eye has started becoming itchy, particularly the eyelids, and the lower right corner seems slightly pinky. Could this also be conjunctivitis?

I have several questions and it would be amazing if I could get some advice.

First of all, were the doctors right about my problems and is there any better treatment options if the ones I’m using now don’t seem to be working. Some insight into my scalp problem and the lump would be enlightening.
Secondly, could my right eye also have conjunctivitis?? What should I do?
Also, is there anything I can do for my itchy skin / eczema or my super chapped lips?

I know this has been extremely long and winding and lots of it was probably irrelevant, but any help or advice would be really really appreciated. Thank you