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Jeremy Paredes (0:30)

I think the thing after games is like, I just can't even move my skin in certain directions without it hurting.

Dylan Marron (0:35)

I want you to try something. Don't think about itching. Don't think about it. Don't think about that last mosquito bite you couldn't leave alone. And definitely don't fixate on the tag on the back of your shirt rubbing against your neck.

How did that go? Well, I imagine not so well. I mean, I don't have a mosquito bite currently, and the shirt I'm wearing does not have a tag on it. And yet somehow I've still managed to make myself feel just a little bit itchy right now. Because that's the thing about an itch. It is remarkably good at making itself the most important thing in the room.

For people living with eczema, that negotiation can happen over and over again, all day and deeper into the night. So how do you keep living your life when your skin keeps pulling you away from it?

Hello everyone and welcome or welcome back to Skinquiries. This is a show about skin, but we all know this, it's a show about people. Because skin health doesn't exist in a vacuum, it shapes everything. It shapes how we're seen, how we see ourselves and our experiences of confidence, identity, community, and care. I'm your host, Dylan Marron.

Today, we're looking at what can happen when an itch becomes impossible to ignore. My guest is Jeremy Paredes, a filmmaker and athlete who has lived with eczema since he was a baby. Now, for years, Jeremy tried to push past the itching so that he could keep his attention where he wanted it, on school, his friends, and most of all, soccer. But an itch doesn't always end when you scratch it. Sometimes, scratching only pulls you into a cycle, and that leaves your skin cracked, bleeding, and vulnerable to infection. As Jeremy would discover at just 17 years old, scratching an itch can escalate into something far more dangerous and can even become a matter of life and death. But long before Jeremy understood how serious his eczema could become, he was a kid beginning to notice that his skin looked a little different from everyone else's. And unfortunately, he wasn't the only one to pick up on that.

Jeremy Paredes (2:58)

Growing up, especially in elementary school, I started to realize my skin doesn't really look like normal, like other people's skin, like it's red, it's cracked, it's dry, it'll bleed.

And as I was going through elementary school, a lot of these kids, they don't really filter what they say. And so they'd be like, eww, what is that on your skin? Like, why is it so cracked? Like, are you contagious? Like, is that skin cancer? And as a five to ten year old kid, I didn't have the mental strength of blocking all of that out.

Dylan Marron (3:26)

Yeah.

Jeremy Paredes (3:26)

So I kind of let it get to me. I was like, oh man, like I'm not normal. I'm not, I don't look like everybody else. And that kind of stung. It hit me. It hurt. And so living in Georgia with 90 degree summers and humidity, I would wear long sleeves, long pants, cover all my skin up. Basically think of like little Jeremy in long sleeves, long pants, like it's winter time, but it's just burning outside just because I was so ashamed of showing my skin.

Dylan Marron (3:51)

Yeah.

I will say kids are almost like genius level at finding your insecurity and like honing in on that and really making you feel really bad for it. I know the feeling well. I'm so sorry that happened to you. As I understand though, there was another big part of your life ever since childhood and that was sports. Is that right?

Jeremy Paredes (4:16)

Yes.

Dylan Marron (4:16)

Okay.

Jeremy Paredes (4:17)

Absolutely.

Dylan Marron (4:17)

Tell me about that and tell me about how it played into your life, your sense of self, everything.

Jeremy Paredes (4:23)

Yeah. I am a competitive person. I grew up playing all types of sports. Soccer and basketball were my two biggest loves.

And I played that growing up when I was in San Francisco. When my family moved to China, I would play in the International League. And then when I got back to the States in Georgia, I would play rec and then eventually club and travel soccer and basketball. So that's where I met a lot of people. That's where even with my eczema, I still got to play. I still got to feel like a regular kid. And I made a lot of friends and people who will be in my life forever through sports.