When Matt Boyon first shared his story on Understand AD, he was a freshman in college, still discovering what confidence looked like on the other side of a childhood shaped by challenges from having severe atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as eczema.

Two years later, Matt is now in his senior year after spending a semester abroad in Tuscania, Italy. He is a finance major and juggles part-time work as an on-call firefighter with hockey officiating.

His skin, and his sense of himself, have both changed a lot since that first conversation. “As my skin is generally under control, I’m not thinking about my eczema 24/7,” Matt said. That single shift, from constant vigilance of his skin to something closer to ease, threads through everything else that has changed for Matt since his first story ran.

Managing eczema on his own terms

College life brought a level of independence Matt hadn’t had to navigate before, and eczema came along for the ride.

He still moisturizes his full body after every shower and sometimes showers up to three times a day. Living with friends, he’s also learned to be open with his roommates about these routines and needs that help him manage his eczema.

“I’m now a lot more comfortable communicating [about my eczema] than I would have been in the past,” Matt said.

One of the clearest signs of how far Matt has come is his willingness to recognize what he needs and communicate it, rather than simply pushing through. Whether it’s stepping off the field during a pickup soccer game due to sweat causing skin irritation or explaining his skin care to a new roommate, he no longer treats his own needs as something to apologize for.

Confidence that doesn’t erase the hard parts

Matt is candid that some of the old insecurities haven’t disappeared entirely. He’s still self-conscious about the redness in his skin, especially on his face, and strangers sometimes assume he’s overheated or sunburned when he isn’t. What’s different now is how he carries those moments.

“I wasn’t expecting to grow into who I am today,” Matt said.

He credits part of that growth to the friends who never made his skin the center of the conversation, and to now being around people who are older and ask questions about his skin in a more genuine and thoughtful manner than kids once did.

Small comments still land sometimes, but they don’t define his days the way they once could.

A recent flare, and a reminder

Not every part of Matt’s story this year has been about progress. This past summer’s increased outdoor activity brought on a stretch of rashes behind his knees and on his arms, the kind of flare that brought back memories of scratching in public as a kid.

“The itch doesn’t go away,” he said. “You can scratch as much as you want, but it doesn’t go away until it wants to go away on its own.”

The flare was a reminder that eczema management isn’t something to take for granted, even years into feeling more in control. “I realize I can’t take this time where I’m not itchy for granted,” Matt said. “I need to stay on top of these things.”

NEA Ambassador Matt Boyon and friends

The people who stuck around

When asked what he’d tell his younger self, Matt didn’t hesitate. “The right people are going to stick around,” he said. He thinks often about the classmates who made fun of his skin growing up, kids he simply doesn’t see anymore.

But there are others who matter far more. The friends from elementary school who still show up for him today. After his parents, his friends became his advocates in their own right, defending him when his confidence was low, long before they understood eczema themselves. That community has only continued to grow.

Becoming the mentor he once needed

As a teenager, Matt looked up to older patients who had learned to manage their skin with what seemed like effortless confidence. He didn’t expect to become one of those people himself. “I think I can now see myself in those people who were, at the time, like my mentors in a way,” he said.

That perspective now shapes how Matt shows up as an NEA Ambassador. He’s used his platform to raise money for NEA, including through a marathon fundraiser in Croatia, as well as worked to share his own story but also stories of other people he’s met through NEA’s community events like the Eczema Expo and most recently at Living Well in New York. His advocacy today feels less like proving something, rather more like reaching back toward people who are earlier in the journey he’s already walked.

“I’m just able to use my voice more,” Matt said. “I think I can reach out to more people, and I can see myself in their shoes.”

Matt recalls an encounter at Eczema Expo with a younger boy in elementary school who was struggling with his severe eczema at the time and understood his challenges of feeling hopeless. Recently, he watched that same friend bike 50 miles with his dad.

“I want others still struggling to know, it does get better. As you get older and you understand yourself more, you start to know your own individual needs that helps you navigate eczema your own way,” he shared.

Ten years of shared stories

Matt’s evolution from a teenager finding his footing to a young adult mentoring the next generation reflects exactly what the Understand AD campaign has spent the past 10 years working to do: give people living with atopic dermatitis hope and a safe space to share their story with others like them, building a deeply engaged and connected community.

“Understand AD is about sharing stories amongst the community, so they don’t have to feel alone. The stories have not only brought attention to the physical impacts of atopic dermatitis, but also to the parts of eczema management that are oftentimes overlooked,” Matt said. “The social and psychological burden that is placed on patients can also affect close family and friends, but Understand AD reminds me that I’m supported and never alone in this journey.”

That sense of belonging, built one shared story at a time, is what Understand AD has always been about.

As the program marks a decade of amplifying real experiences with eczema, Matt’s journey is a reminder that growth isn’t linear and confidence isn’t permanent. It’s built, tested and rebuilt, together.

Understand AD: Matt Boyon on Growing into Confidence Living with Eczema