Our Purpose
Topical Steroid Withdrawal is a severe health condition caused by an adverse reaction to extended use and abrupt or gradual cessation of corticosteroids creams and ointments, commonly prescribed for eczema and psoriasis. Common side effects from stopping the usage of topical steroids include red ripped skin, oozing skin, skin infections, flakey skin, hair loss, fluctuations in body temperature and inability to thermo-regulate, vision impairment, and light sensitivity, anxiety, depression, deep itching, and ongoing chronic pain. Unfortunately, TSW is not recognised as a medical condition. Currently, there is no cure and there is no exact time frame of how long it takes to recover from topical steroid addiction.
Through community recommendations from people who suffer from Topical Steroid Withdrawal, there are routines, treatments, and therapies that can help reduce inflammation, improve skin quality and reduce some of the pain and suffering involved in the withdrawal process. Our purpose is to extract all this information and share it with the TSW community.
The Challenge
"Has anyone tried wheatgrass spray for topical steroid withdrawal before?"
"Does Zinc and Magnesium help skin healing?"
"Do cold showers or hot showers help reduce inflammation?
These are some examples of questions you will see online from people who are suffering from topical steroid withdrawal.
Within Facebook groups, Reddit threads, Instagram comments, and other online forums, there is a wealth of anecdotal information of routines, therapies, and treatments that can help provide solace in reducing inflammation and pain of topical steroid withdrawal symptoms.
These anecdotal solutions are difficult to find and track the efficacy and benefits through social and online forums.
Our Solution
TSW Assist provides a database of routines, products and therapies, recommended by people with topical steroid withdrawal. Data will be provided in an organized way to highlight the collective efficacy of each solution. This is crowd sourced information - provided by the community, for the community.
We hope that highlighting the efficacy of these solutions that may provide options in helping reduce the chronic inflammation, pain and suffering during the withdrawal period of topical steroids.
How It Works
- People with topical steroid withdrawal share their solutions in this 2 minute survey.
- This data is processed and visually displayed by the TSW Assist team.
- The insights are shared with the community on TSW Assist and updated monthly.
Join The Community
If you have or had topical steroid withdrawal, join the community today and stay updated on solutions.
From The Founder
I used prescription topical steroids to treat my eczema for over 20 years. I tried to quit steroid creams after they became less effective. I suffered in silence with topical steroid withdrawal on and off for 6 years. I had ripped, bleeding, oozing skin. I experienced hair loss, inability to thermo-regulate, photosensitivity, and also battled with depression, and anxiety towards food, work, and every social setting. I developed food intolerances that I never had before and in 2015 I lost 12kg in 2 weeks.
I can say that I am about 95% healed now. I tried every solution recommended by different communities online and I now know what works for me managing and reducing the inflammation, itching and pain associated with the symptoms of topical steroid withdrawal. I understand that each healing journey is unique and the products and routines that worked for me, may not work for others. Our mission at TSW Assist is to provide crowd-sourced recommendations and collective data on treatments and therapies to empower the community with solutions to help alleviate the pain of topical steroid withdrawal and provide solace during the withdrawal period.
Jason Vergara
Sydney, Australia
Read my full story
Care & Treatments
From the community
Testimonials
"I watched my partner try a new cream every month. Some helped and some made it worse. It is a great relief to see some solutions we have yet to try from other TSW warrior recommendations."
"Cold showers and meditation are daily routines that I will never stop. They help my inflammation. I definitely recommend it."
"Time is the only cure but it fantastic to see this initiative by Jason and his team. This is priceless information that can get lost within Facebook groups!"