Parenthood is all about happiness, laughter, joy, jubilation and all the other euphonious words we could think of…. Well that’s not entirely true. My husband and I, like all other first time parents, focused only on the joyous moments we’ll be spending with our little one, without even analyzing the other side of parenthood.
Our pink swollen munchkin was born during peak summers, and only after a week of his birth we noticed tiny red bumps appearing all over his face and body. At first we thought that no biggie, maybe it’s just baby acne or maybe we’re overheating him. But after a few more weeks passed and the redness was getting worse and so was his sleep; we finally took him to a renowned dermatologist. There and then he was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis commonly known as eczema. Over the counter antihistamines and topical steroids were prescribed and our journey with this horrendous eczema began….
Months passed and we couldn’t see any significant improvement. My darling son, my husband and I; we literally started looking like a zombie family that never sleeps. Just to console our child and make his sleep slightly comfortable, we used to take turns and massage him the entire night or day (as he didn’t have any sleep cycle). From topical steroids to fancy lotions to desi totkas, you name it; we tried everything we could. But there was no permanent cure, only temporary mollification.
After spending like a fortune over his lotions and creams, we finally settled on a specific regime that still suits him the best. While we were searching for certain emollients, we realized that most of them are not available here in Pakistan and we have to either ask our relatives to bring it for us or spend a lot extra to get those moisturizers here to our doorstep. That’s when it clicked us – that we can’t be the only ones in this quandary; there must be hundreds if not thousands of others like us, here in Pakistan.
Hence, our brainchild MerryDerma was founded with a very particular mission: to help fulfill the market for eczema care skin products in Pakistan. We know that eczema is not the only skin issue that people face, there are numerous others, thus we broadened our spectrum and decided to cater to various other skin issues like psoriasis, acne, early aging, severe dryness, oily skin concerns etc. MerryDerma not only focuses on providing products, but also empathizes with the people facing various skin concerns by sharing their own personal journey.
Our son is almost 4 now and he still gets flare ups from time to time, but by Allah’s grace he has significantly improved and is noticeably becoming a happier child. The fun part is, during this time he noticed every moisturizer and emollient we used to apply on his skin and learned almost all the major brands available in our store, plus he also helps us sort them out when needed. He is a tiny little partner who played a major role in establishing this business.
