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Homeopathy For Eczema: A User Friendly Guide To Finding The Right Remedy

Scott — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:25:18 +0000

An Introduction To Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a gentle system of healing that uses very diluted naturally occurring substances to stimulate healing in the body.

Samuel Hanneman, an 18th century physician and the founder of homeopathy, noticed that he could use small amounts of natural substances, such as plants or minerals, to cure illness in patients.

Curiously he discovered that the best results came from using a substance whose anticipated side effects mimicked the same symptoms which the person was experiencing.

For example, the potentially deadly herb belladonna can cause salivation, dilated pupils, headache and sweating.

Dr. Hanneman would give minute amounts of belladonna to a feverish patient who displayed these same symptoms and the patient would begin to get better.

Using very small amounts of the herbs and minerals eliminated the risk of toxicity and adverse reaction, but Samuel Hanneman also noticed that the more dilute the remedy, the faster and better the patients responded.

When you purchase homeopathic medicines, the higher doses have a decreasing amount of actual active ingredient. Typically homeopathic medicines come in the forms of lactose pellets, liquids or creams.

The most common commercially available doses are referred to as potencies and are a number followed by an X, C or M. X is the lowest and M is the highest.

Increasingly larger numbers signify a more potent medicine but the letter signifies an even greater jump in strength. (It’s kind of a cross between the Roman numeral system and the Richter scale used to measure earthquakes)

For example, a remedy with the potency of 6C is stronger than 2X and a remedy with a potency of 10M is stronger than one of 200C strength.

Why Should I Try Homeopathy To Treat My Eczema?

Homeopathy is the most popular alternative therapy in the world and is used by more people than herbal medicine, chiropractic or even acupuncture.

Even though it has been in widespread use for several hundred years, the science to prove its efficacy is just now being revealed.

A 2010 study completed at MD Anderson showed that breast cancer cells in a petri dish stopped growing and some even were killed off when exposed to the homeopathic remedies

Carcinosinum and Phytolacca. This effect did not happen to healthy breast tissue.

An article appearing in 2009 in the journal Dermatology found homeopathic eczema treatment to be as effective as the standard conventional therapy.

Given the low cost of homeopathic medicines and their even lower risk for adverse reaction, homeopathy is a sound treatment approach for people with eczema.

Learning To Be A Homeopath: Find The Characteristic Or Unusual Symptoms

Homeopathic principles are unique in that not all people with eczema will see their symptoms improve with the same remedy. It is a system of medicine that works by individualizing the remedy to the person.

The best tool to find the correct remedy is to identify the strange, individual or peculiar symptoms of your disease.

Most eczema sufferers will describe their skin as feeling itchy or wanting to scratch.

This common symptom might help lead to the diagnosis of eczema but it will not by itself identify the proper homeopathic remedy.

Now, if the itchiness is worse after a hot bath you have a more specific, and less commonly experienced symptom to narrow down the list of possible homeopathic medicines that would be appropriate for you.

Or if you only get the urge to scratch during the night, this would also be specific enough to use in selecting the right remedy for you.

Skilled homeopaths will inquire in depth about the appearance, distribution (what areas of the body are affected), and sensations of the eczema presentation.

You do not need to be an experienced homeopath to come to the best remedy but you will need to be a careful observer.

The following are some questions to help differentiate between the more common homeopathic remedies for eczema:

1. Is my eczema better or worse in warm weather or cold weather? Likewise, is it better or worse on rainy days or in dry climates?

2. Does scratching the area make it feel better or worse?

3. What is the appearance of my eczematous lesions? Are they bright red, pink, silvery, more raised or flat, do they bleed or ooze when picked?

4. What foods or beverages aggravate my skin?

5. Have I felt more anxious, angry, sad or apathetic since the eczema started?

This last question is obviously easier to assess if the eczema is newly developed but sometimes I’ve had patients who can even recall 10 years later that their eczema started when their beloved pet died, they started a new job, or got a divorce.

These mental emotional clues also can help identify the individual characteristics of homeopathic remedies.

Homeopathy is holistic in the sense that it treats both physical symptoms as well as a person’s mental and emotional health.

Below you will find the most common homeopathic remedies used to treat eczema and their individualizing characteristics but first I want to give some tips for being a successful homeopath.

1) There Can Be More Than One Appropriate Homeopathic Remedy to Get Improvement In Your Eczema

While most classical homeopaths feel that there is usually one remedy most aligned with a person’s particular constitution, there will often be improvement of symptoms if the selected remedy is even a close match.

If you get some results, but you aren’t continuing to improve, you might want to try another remedy with similar characteristics.

Earlier this year I treated a woman in her early thirties who had acne since she was a teenager. I confidently prescribed homeopathic Sulphur as she was generally warm-blooded, craved bacon and her acne was worse from bathing—all Sulphur characteristics and a strong correlative factor. Six weeks later Diane came back and her acne was only marginally improved but she reported better energy and focus. So I got more symptoms and we tried again, this time with a remedy related to Sulphur called Pulsatilla and fortunately after the new remedy Diane’s face was the clearest it had been in years.

2) Your Symptoms May Temporarily Get Worse Before Your Eczema Improves

Sometimes an aggravation is possible before you notice improvement.

While I said earlier that homeopathic medicines are very safe and are not known to interact with other medication, they can cause a temporary aggravation of symptoms.

In the case of eczema I have seen where a remedy is given and for the next few hours up until a week, there is worsening of itching, redness or swelling followed by steady improvement.

This type of aggravation was written about in the time of Samuel Hanneman and was speculated to be a release of sorts.

I always warn patients that this can occur but see it happen only 5-10% of the time in practice. More commonly this occurs in persons with a history of being hypersensitive to other therapies.

If a person does not improve after a suspected aggravation then the correct remedy was not selected and a different remedy should be given.

One way to minimize risk of aggravation is to start with a low potency. In sensitive patients I start with 6c for eczema and other skin conditions.

3) Follow These Dosing Strategies for Best Outcomes

There are times when a person will react to a remedy and that improvement wears off.

If this is the case, it is time to either re-dose the remedy (if it hasn’t been taken in awhile) or increase the potency of the remedy.

Generally, I increase only to the next potency level but some homeopaths do increase more rapidly. It is appropriate to continue increasing in potency as needed and discontinue when symptoms resolve.

There are also differing opinions on how often to administer remedies. The two most popular dosing strategies are either a daily dose for a prescribed period of time or a single large dose.

The single dose is given only once and then repeated if there is relapse. In the real world I find it easier to give remedies daily so as not to miss the window of when symptoms are recurring.

OK, now that you’ve completed a mini course in homeopathy, it’s time to apply what you’ve learned and compare the list of your specific symptoms to the ones listed below for each remedy.

If you continue to have trouble or none of the remedies below seem to match your case, then consulting a formally trained homeopath is a good idea.

The North America Society of Homeopaths has a list of clinicians in your area and many are willing to do phone consultations as well.

In addition to using homeopathy for eczema, I also recommend people read Vanish Eczema, a book designed for people looking for natural, easy to follow steps in order to eradicate their eczema.

Whereas conventional therapies merely suppress eczema, Vanish Eczema has practical solutions to address the underlying cause.

The 15 Most Common Homeopathic Remedies For Eczema And Their Characteristic Symptoms

1. Agaricus Muscarius: burning, biting, extreme itching, prickling as from needles, electric like sensations in the skin; small nodules in the skin, worse in winter.

Persons needing Agaricus often have reddened ears or noses. They are prone to anxiety, especially about their health.

2. Alumina: dry eczema, patients tend to be very irritable with constipation. Eczema is worse in winter.

Ulcerated lesions secrete yellowish brown, smelly pus. This remedy is often prescribed in the elderly, pale persons or frail individuals.

I once gave homeopathic Alumina to a fussy 11-month-old baby boy who had eczema on his cheeks. The clue to use this remedy was his persistent constipation despite his mom giving him plenty of fibrous foods and fluids.

People needing Alumina can crave non-edible food as was the case of this boy who liked to munch paper and chalk.

3. Antimonium Crudum: thick, hard, honey colored scales, itching when warm. People often report burning, worse at night; stomach problems; sensitive to cold bathing.

4. Arsenicum Album: itching, burning, swelling, worse in cold and from scratching; dry, rough, scaly skin; between fingers and cracks on tips of fingers; scaly eruptions on scalp and face with acrid, fetid discharge; intense burning and ditching.

Like Agaricus, persons needing Arsenicum also tend to be highly anxious, especially regarding their own health.

5. Calcarea Carbonica: violent itching at all times, worse in the early morning while in bed; sometimes people have the sensation as if wearing cold damp socks from cold sweating of the lower extremities.

This patient also perspires easily on the head. People needing Calcarea Carbonica are often overweight.

6. Calcarea Sulphurica: dry eczema in kids; yellow smelly crusts and scales; pimples on the hair, which bleed when scratched.

7. Chrysarobinum: behind ears; violent itching; filthy-looking, scabby condition with tendency to form thick crust.

I used this remedy successfully with a patient who was in the lichen phase of eczema, where his lesions had thickened almost to a leathery texture.

8. Graphites: weeping, sticky honey-like fluid; on hands, face, lips, behind ears, worse from becoming overheated at night (such as having overly warm bed covers); moist in folds of skin with itching on bends of joints; suppurates easily and pimples form; sensitive to touch, worse in dry, cold wind, better in damp and warm weather.

9. Kali Sulphuricum: vesicles with thin, yellow pus; distribution is often the inside of hands and fingers; lips cracked, eczema worse from eating sweets.

10. Petroleum: yellowish, green thick crusts on face and neck which profuse discharge; bloody cracks with no discharge; dry, scaly or moist better in summer, worse in cold or winter; on hands or behind ears.

11. Psorinum: dry, scaly on scalp and face; crusts over the scalp; hair falls out, oozing lifts the crusts and exposes new vesicles, worse at night from warmth of bed.

The person needing Psorinum is often depressed, unhopeful; their eczema has a strong odor from oozing fluid.

12. Rhus Toxicodendron: dry with redness, swelling, intolerable itching made worse by warmth; on scalp in infants; vesicles suppurate thin watery dark colored secretion.

The personality of Rhus tox is typically quite restless.

13. Staphysagria: yellow, acrid fluid oozes from under crusts; humid itching, fetid eruptions on head and behind ears; scratching place of itching but increases oozing.

The personality of a person needing Staphysagria is often timid and they report feeling suppressed by others or their situation. Rarely will they show anger but when they do, it will be explosive.

I saw a patient recently where I prescribed Staphysagria for her mental emotional state during a divorce from a controlling and sexually perverse man.

The remedy did help her mood but it also simultaneously improved the deep, itchy cracks in her hands.

The patient jokes that she no longer needed to “purchase a case of hand cream every time I go to the grocery store.”

14. Sulphur: intense burning, itching is worse from washing or scratching; rough, course, dry scaly skin; redness around orifices (mouth, anus).

Sulphur types are deep thinkers and quite intellectual but they also have a tendency towards laziness at times. Food cravings of this remedy include bacon, beer and spicy foods.

15. Thuja: occurring after suppression of gonorrhea (this was a problematic disease in Samuel Hanneman’s time but it could be said that Thuja is indicated if eczema started after any untreated sexually transmitted infection), also indicated for eczema occurring after vaccination; appears as dirty brown skin covered with itching vesicles.

Natural Remedies For Eczema

Blake — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:37:59 +0000

If you are suffering from eczema then you know how important an effective remedy is. The most effective therapies are those that are soothing, healing, and safe. This is why natural alternatives are a preferred method over the harsh chemicals and health risks of standard medical remedies.

This article will address three specific natural remedies for eczema, including explaining why they work and how to prepare them. These three therapies will help you find much deserved relief from eczema.

Oatmeal Treatment

Oatmeal has been one of the most commonly used home remedies for eczema and many other skin problems since ancient Egyptian times.

Oatmeal is a fiber-rich, nourishing food that keeps you healthy on the inside.

Although it may seem unbelievable, this fantastic food is also an excellent way to keep you healthy on the outside as well.

Oatmeal has unique properties that soothe and relieve the symptoms of eczema as well as keeping skin healthy to prevent eczema. On a basic level, oatmeal hydrates your skin and prevents it from drying out.

Oatmeal mainly consists of four skin promoting components, polysaccharides, proteins, saponins, and fats. Polysaccharides are a complex sugar that breaks down into a gel-like consistency when mixed with water. It helps to prevent drying by creating a protective barrier on top of the skin.

The proteins in oatmeal further that protection by promoting your skin’s natural ability to create a barrier against foreign irritants and allergens. Saponins are natural cleaners that work to keep the skin functioning by cleaning out the dirt from your pores.

Finally, the fats in oatmeal are a fantastic natural way to lubricate your skin and keep it hydrated.

You can often find oatmeal in many forms, such as lotions or compresses. However, one of the most effective oatmeal remedies for eczema is the oatmeal bath.

Start by taking four cups, or two for a young child, of raw, unprepared oats and processing it in a blender or grinder until it is a find powder. Pour the powder into your bath as you run the warm water; make sure the water is not too hot as this will aggravate your eczema.

Soak in this bath for at least 15 minutes and then rinse yourself clean with warm water. When you dry off, try to dab at your skin instead of rubbing it in order to preserve the oatmeal on your skin.

Natural Cleanser

You probably already know that good hygiene is an important part of any remedy for eczema. However, many of the cleaners can be too abrasive to your skin. They may dry out your skin and make the itching and inflammation of eczema worse.

However, there is a very good natural alternative that will keep your skin healthy and help it heal.

A combination of comfrey root, white oak bark, and slippery elm bark will make a very good cleaner to use both during an eczema flare up and as your normal cleanser.

It will also help relieve the itching and inflammation of eczema. It is even gentle enough for use on babies and young children.

Comfrey root has been used for centuries to heal wounds and reduce inflammation. It also accelerates cell growth and renewal and helps to reduce scarring.

White oak bark is rich in vitamin B12 and skin soothing minerals like zinc. It is also an excellent astringent to tone your skin and reduce inflammation.

Slippery elm is packed full of tannins, like the cleansers found in oatmeal discussed earlier in this article. These cleaners are very powerful at removing and killing germs. Slippery elm is also great for reducing inflammation resulting from infection.

As one of the better cleaners and eczema home remedies, this natural skin wash is easy to make. Take 1 teaspoon of comfrey root, 1 teaspoon of white oak bark, and 1 teaspoon of slippery elm bark and combine it with 2 cups of water.

Make sure all of the ingredients have been mixed together and then heat the mixture over medium heat until it boils. Reduce the heat and let simmer for about a half an hour.

Then, remove the mixture for heat and let it cool completely. Strain out the solids. The remaining liquid can be used as you would any other liquid face wash.

A Healing Moisturizer

After you have cleansed your skin, it is important to keep it hydrated.

A lotion will help keep your skin moist, but you must make sure it is one that will help your skin heal more quickly and protect you from future outbreaks.

Many commercial lotions are full of manmade chemical, allergens, and other items that are known to actually trigger eczema.

Those that do not cause eczema can aggravate the itching, redness, and pain.

A very good eczema remedy and alternative to commercial lotions is to use a natural moisturizer that is enhanced with blueberry leaf and licorice extracts.

Blueberry leaves are known to contain a very powerful compound that prevents the spread of germs.

This will prevent a secondary infection from forming and will help your skin cells better repair themselves. This will reduce the redness and inflammation from eczema, which will also help to alleviate the itching.

Licorice extract has been proven to quickly reduce swelling and redness. It is known to relieve pain related to skin wounds and open lesions, like those from eczema.

It also helps relieve itching and children were shown to scratch less when using licorice, which helps the skin heal more quickly.

You can buy lotions and moisturizers from natural stores that contain both blueberry leaf and licorice extract.

However, it is not necessary for you to give up your favorite natural lotion. You can also add these extracts to your lotion and get the same fantastic results.

Make sure you always start with a natural lotion that is free of dyes, oils, and fragrances. An aloe vera and/or zinc based lotion is the best choice among lotions that are eczema remedies.

To add the extracts to your lotion, start by applying your normal quantity of lotion to the palm of your hand. Then add 2 drops of blueberry extract and 1 to 2 drops of licorice, depending on how bad your eczema is, to the lotion in your hand. Use your finger to mix the extracts into the lotions. Then, apply the lotion as you normally would.

If you are having a severe outbreak you might try a more concentrated solution of licorice extract to relieve acute symptoms.

Other Remedies For Eczema

There are many other remedies for eczema, but these three will greatly help alleviate your suffering, soothe your skin, and help you heal.

If you would like to know more home remedies, read the ebook Vanish Eczema. It will further explain these remedies along with other natural therapies.

Also, it has very helpful information on eczema in general so that you can better understand your eczema and the best treatment options. If you are suffering from eczema, this book can guide you to safe, natural relief.

Facial Eczema Treatment

Blake — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:26:42 +0000

photo by kthrn

If you or a loved one is one of the millions of people suffering from eczema on your face, you probably feel very frustrated at each recurrence of the redness, pimple-like bumps, discoloration, inflammation, and sometimes oozing lesions.

When eczema occurs in the face and neck it can have a profound impact on every aspect of your life and you may become desperate for relief.

This is easy to understand, you greet the world with your face and you may feel the world looks on you differently when you have a recurrence.

Facial eczema, sometimes called excema, is very common in infants and young children. In fact, it is normally the first area affected in this type of atopic eczema.

These cases typically clear up by adolescence, but they can recur later in life.

However, it is the adult onset of eczema in the facial area that can be more severe, cause greater discomfort, and very negatively impact your quality of life. Fortunately, this type of facial eczema can be the most responsive to safe and natural treatments.

Some of the traditional medical treatments, like topical steroid creams, are not as effective on facial eczema as more natural methods. This is because eczema is a recurring condition that sometimes requires topical treatments to be applied for extended periods of time.

Facial skin is thinner and much more sensitive than most areas on your body. Extended use of topical treatments such as steroids can cause secondary reactions like acne and infections that will lengthen the healing process and probably leave embarrassing scars.

On the other hand, there are very good natural alternatives to treat eczema on face and neck areas. All natural treatments focus on the relief and prevention of physical discomfort and visible symptoms.

However, the most effective treatments also address the psychological and quality of life aspects of this condition. This is because a mind that is free of anxiety is a vital component to treatment.

Stress And Relaxation

Stress is often a major trigger for facial eczema on several levels. On a very basic level stress can caused increased oil production, acne, sweating, and other conditions that irritate existing eczema occurrences and can trigger new ones.

Also, stress is also associated with bad habits that trigger face eczema like “lip licking”. However, stress can have more serious effects.

Many times a single allergen does not create a flare up until it combines with another chemical in your system and you have an internal reaction. Stress releases toxins into your system which can easily react with an otherwise benign allergen.

This is why relaxation techniques are an important aspect of any facial eczema treatment. This can be as simple as reading your favorite book to distract you from stress related picking, scratching, and licking. It can also include massages and warm bathes to prevent the release of toxins in your system.

Also, relaxation exercises like yoga and stretching will help your body better withstand the negative effects of stress that can cause eczema.

Makeup, Cleansers And Lotions

Makeup is an important part of everyday life and many people do not feel comfortable without it.

Some people believe that having eczema on the face means you cannot wear makeup and this lowers their quality of life.

However, for healing to take place it is important that the psychological discomfort of eczema be treated.

If wearing makeup makes you feel more normal, then makeup should be a part of your treatment.

Seek out makeup that is hypoallergenic, meaning they are less likely to cause an allergic reaction, even though they sometimes cost more. Also look for non-comedogenic makeup. This is makeup that does not clog the pores and helps your skin breathe.

When it comes time to take off the makeup and the rest of the day’s grime, there are good natural alternatives to harsh soaps that will help you treat eczema on face and neck areas.

For example, a boiled mixture of white oak, elm bark, and comfrey root will cleanse the skin but also greatly soothe the inflammation. There are other natural cleansers out there, but if you do not use this cleanser you should find one recommended by an eczema expert.

Also, follow the cleanser with a lotion that is zinc based to further soothe the irritation and even out your skin.

Food

Diet and food preparation are also a key to treating eczema, especially in sensitive areas like your face. These treatments are based on balancing nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

Also, they focus on foods and preparation techniques that keep your Ph and acid levels balanced. Many studies have shown that Ph levels can have a tremendous affect on the treatment of facial eczema.

There are many other techniques to naturally and effectively treat eczema on the face. If you want to understand the techniques mentioned here in more detail, and many other fantastic methods, turn to the ebook Vanish Eczema.

You will learn the techniques they used to control and even prevent facial and other forms of eczema, including diet, ointments, relaxation, and more.

You can use these techniques to keep your condition in check and take back your own quality of life.

Eyelid Eczema Treatment

Blake — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:11:33 +0000

photo by louisa_catlover

Whether yours is a discoloring rash spreading out towards your cheeks or small bumps that can make it difficult to even blink, eczema of the eyelid can be a very exasperating condition.

Your eyes are often the first thing people notice about you and you should not have to hide them behind dark glasses or be continuously rubbing at an unsightly rash. More importantly, you should not have to feel the physical or emotional pain associated with eyelid eczema.

The best way for you to overcome your condition is to understand what causes eczema and how you can safely treat it.

Common Allergens And Irritants

Eyelid eczema is most often the result of direct contact with an allergen. This means that the most effective way to treat your condition is to remove the allergen.

The allergen is most often a makeup, face cream, or cleanser you use regularly.

Nail varnish and touching your eyes with artificial nails on is often a trigger.

Problems with makeup and nail products can be especially present if your tried-and-true brand has recently changed their ingredients.

There are other allergens that can cause this condition as well. A common form of eczema on eyelids is called rosacea and can be caused by alcohol, spicy foods, or sudden temperature changes.

If there is something that regularly irritates the eyelid, like smoke or rubbing, this can result in eczema. It might also be a contaminant you are around regularly in your job, such as latex if you are a nurse, cleaning products if you are a maid, or flowers if you are a florist. Removing the allergen will normally take care of the eczema.

Unfortunately, eliminating an allergen is usually not as easy as it sounds. If the allergen is job or environment related, it can be almost impossible to avoid it.

However, you should not have to give up ordinary things you love, like spicy food or your favorite color eye shadow, just because you have eczema eyes. When you do this, it lowers your quality of life dramatically. It can depress you and make you feel insecure which further slows the healing process.

Instead of giving up on the things you love, it is better to find safe and effective treatments for your eczema.

Traditional Treatments

Other forms of eczema, such as on your arms or legs, respond very well to the traditional medical treatments out there. Steroid creams, ultra-violet (UV) light therapy, and other medical treatments can typically control the symptoms of these outbreaks. Unfortunately, these are not options for your eczema eyes.

Your face is a very sensitive area and your eyelids are some of the most delicate skin you have. Even the mildest steroids can cause secondary reactions in the eyelid area, sometimes leading to increased rosacea spreading to the cheeks.

Also, the steroids can harm your eyes which could happen accidentally. UV light can quickly burn your eyelid skin and is dangerous to your vision. You will have similar luck with other medical treatments.

This is why it is important to look to natural methods to safely treat your case of eczema eyelids.

Finding Natural Methods

The problem with finding natural treatments that are actually safe is that there are endless sources of bad information out there. Considering how delicate your eczema eye and lid area is, bad advice can quickly turn into dangerous advice.

However, that does not mean that all of the information out there will lead you astray. The trick is to find skin care experts you can trust, who have had the same experiences and used these treatments themselves with success.

The author of the ebook Vanish Eczema is the type of expert whose advice on safe and natural eczema treatments can be trusted.

More importantly, he used the treatments he recommends to effectively relieve his own condition. Vanish Eczema Program teaches you about many helpful techniques to soothe and treat your own condition, from skin care to food preparation.

If you are suffering from eyelid eczema and your doctors have failed to help you, do not give up hope. There are still very effective and safe ways to treat your condition.

You do not need to choose between your condition and your job, makeup, or favorite foods. Instead, try natural methods to treat your skin and look out at the world with bright, eczema-free eyes once more.

How To Treat Eczema In Children

Blake — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:58:56 +0000

If your child suffers from eczema, you are probably desperate to find a way to provide him or her with relief. 90% of all cases of eczema, sometimes called excema, start before age 5, most occurring while the child is an infant and is more difficult to comfort. It can be very frustrating.

However, this does not mean that you cannot treat the condition and give your child the relief they deserve.

Myths Versus Facts

One of the most important steps to treating your child’s condition is to dispel the many myths out there about the condition. Everyone in your life is probably offering their opinion, based on hear-say knowledge, of how to treat the condition.

Unfortunately, many of these myths can make the condition worse.

One of the biggest myths that you may have heard is that you should only bathe your child once a week. This could not be further from the truth because good hygiene is an important factor to controlling and limiting flare ups.

However, you should cut back on harsh soaps and use other emulsifying agents that will clean and soothe the skin. Ph-neutral and low-Ph soaps are recommended.

Medicated bath oils are also recommended. If your child is still in diapers, it is important that you clean the diaper area often because infants are often prone to eczema in this area as a result of the warm, damp skin combined with the germs from their soiled diaper.

Along those lines, there is also a myth out there that you should avoid light to treat eczema. This is absolutely the wrong thing to do. In fact, many doctors and natural healers use Ultra-Violet (UV) light to treat eczema in children with substantially positive results.

You should seek advice from someone you trust on how to best use UV light to treat your child.

Diet control is also often mistakenly thought to cause eczema outbreaks. In fact, there have been several studies, including those studying eczema in children, which addressed the issue of diet. None have found any conclusive evidence that the diet caused an outbreak of eczema.

Children need good nutrition for growth and healing, so do not eliminate nutritious food from their diet because it will not affect their condition.

Topical Treatments

Another major myth out there that needs to be addressed is that the steroids in topical treatments will harm your child. Topical treatments, such as lotions with steroids, are the most common and most popular form of treatment.

It is an antiquated belief that they harm the skin. Hydrocortisone is a very mild steroid that is gentle to the skin but very effective against childhood eczema.

As with any prescription, always make sure you follow the directions and dosing correctly. However, if your doctor has prescribed your son or daughter a topical treatment with hydrocortisone, you should not hesitate to use it.

It is very likely your child will find relief from this type of ointment.

When using a topical treatment for eczema children, it is important that you remember this is a recurring condition. Do not expect to apply a treatment and have your child’s condition go away forever.

Instead, the treatment will ease your child’s symptoms, including discomfort and appearance. Over 75% of all eczema patients state that the ability to manage their symptoms in this way has improved their quality of life.

In the case of eczema treatment children are no different. Do not lose motivation when another outbreak occurs because your child is still better off managing the symptoms with a topical treatment than with none at all.

As an alternative to topical creams and ointments, paste bandages have been very effective. These are wet bandages that are often zinc based. Zinc has amazing skin healing properties.

When applied wet it both immediately relieves discomfort and helps the skin inflammation to heal. This type of bandage is prescribed by your doctor and you should be hesitant to buy any over the counter variations.

Also, your doctor or nurse should show you how to apply the bandages because they can cause further discomfort if they are applied too tightly or incorrectly.

Allergens

Another common misunderstanding about eczema, especially the atopic eczema that occurs in children, is the relation to allergens. This is because most people use the word allergen in reference to any substance that makes their body have a reaction, especially reactions like sniffles, mild rashes, and itching.

However, a true allergen is one that causes your immune system to overreact. This overreaction typically causes the type of inflammation seen in atopic eczema.

This type of overreaction is normally the result of a combination of allergens which is why removing a single allergen, such as fabric softener or a wool sweater, does not typically treat the problem.

In fact, you may not have a reaction to two separate allergens but when they are combined they can cause the problem. This is also why traditional allergy testing often fails to identify the cause of eczema in children.

Here is a good example of allergens working together to trigger a flare up in your child. Dust mites are a common allergen that cause hives, asthma, and other types of reactions.

They are also considered a trigger for eczema, when combined with other factors. However, a child can be around dust mites all day long and not get a reaction, but their condition may change as soon as they go to bed.

At bedtime, your child is typically bundled up under covers and the raised heat makes their body more susceptible to a flare up. The increased heat is combined with the lack of distraction, giving your child more opportunity to scratch at dust-mite related irritations.

The result is that your child will wake up with an eczema reaction.

Even though it is a single allergen, eliminating dust mites is an important step to treating child eczema. There are several things you must do to get rid of dust mites.

A quality vacuum is needed to achieve the suction needed to remove dust mites, along with pet dander and other allergens. Also, you should get bedding, in all of your bedrooms that is hypoallergenic and repels dust mites.

Use a mattress cover and avoid feather pillows. Make sure you clean all bedding regularly. If you have received a lot of hand me downs for your child, like bedding, mattresses, and other furniture you may either want to replace it with new, hypoallergenic materials or treat them with dust mite treatment sprays.

Remember, dust mite treatment sprays are chemical in nature and can cause a skin irritation or eczema reaction themselves.

Finding Quality Advice

There are other quality treatments out there that are safe and natural, but there are also a lot of people offering bad advice. If you want to better understand treatment options for your child’s eczema, it is important that you find quality information that you can trust.

This information should come from a dermatological expert offering information on both physical and psychological treatments for eczema. Ideally, this advice will address both medical and alternative treatments with an equally open mind.

The ebook Vanish Eczema offers you this kind of advice. It is written by a person who himself suffered from Eczema for several years.

He will give you the advice you need to safely and effectively treat and soothe your child’s eczema.

Eczema Treatments – Natural Treatment for Eczema

Blake — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:38:19 +0000

An effective eczema treatment regiment, sometimes called an excema treatment, is a two staged approach. When you have an outbreak, you will need to care for many of your symptoms such as the open skin, itching, and inflammation externally.

However, treating eczema means you should also take an internal approach to both relieve symptoms and control outbreaks.

There are many medical products and methods out there which externally treat your skin when you have an actual outbreak. These methods work best when they are complimented by a natural treatment for eczema.

This article will discuss three of the natural external and internal treatments for eczema that are available. These complimentary therapies will make your medical therapy more successful and help you find a better relief.

Conditioning Lotions

Your skin must stay lubricated in order to stay healthy and more quickly heal from an occurrence of eczema.

Having good hygiene is important to keeping skin healthy, but it can cause your skin to dry out. Sun exposure can further deplete moisture within the skin and literally drain your skin’s natural protective nutrients.

Keeping your skin hydrated and conditioned is always important, but during an outbreak it is absolutely necessary for the treatment of eczema.

A conditioning and hydrating lotion should always be considered your first line of defense form of an eczema natural treatment. This external treatment should be applied frequently, especially while your skin is damp because this will increase absorption and seal in moisture.

It will help your skin heal more quickly and keep your skin cells healthy in order to control future occurrences. Furthermore, it will actually create a barrier against external irritants and allergens that cause eczema.

However, not all lotions were created equal. Some lotions, especially those that are high in chemicals and from man-made products like petroleum, may actually further inflame your eczema.

Therefore, it is important that you select only safe, natural lotions that will help you heal.

The first quality you should look for is a lotion that is hypo-allergenic.

This means that it does not contain any of the common allergens known to cause eczema, hay fever, asthma, hives, and other allergic reactions.

Allergens are the cause of many forms of eczema and eliminating as many of allergens as possible is very important.

Your lotion should be made from natural materials. Aloe vera is a fantastic emollient, or lotion that softens and soothes skin. It not only relieves itching but accelerates healing.

Oatmeal based lotions will also help treat the symptoms of eczema. Cocoa butter based lotions are best at creating a natural barrier against irritants and allergens when you are not having an occurrence of eczema.

If possible, you should try to find a conditioning lotion that also contains certain vitamins and minerals. Zinc has an amazing ability to soothe your skin, stop itching, reduce inflammation, and accelerate the healing process.

Many lotions also contain vitamins A and E. As you will learn later in the supplements sections, these vitamins greatly improve your skin’s regeneration and renewal properties.

When these vitamins are applied via lotion they can be absorbed efficiently.

Supplements

In addition to treating your skin externally, it is important that you take measures to improve it internally. You should always try to eat right.

However, there are also certain supplements which treat eczema by helping your skin stay conditioned naturally. You should take these supplements year round, but especially during an occurrence of eczema to boost your skin’s natural healing ability.

The first supplement you should take is Vitamin E. This vitamin, most often found in wild caught fish, increases your skin’s natural oils in order to stay lubricated.

It is also an effective eczema treatment because it relieves and soothes itching. As with any supplement, you should consult your doctor as to the proper dosage but the average adult will take 400IU of Vitamin E daily.

Some people have unusually rough or coarse skin that can be treated through vitamin supplements. Vitamin A not only softens the skin but increases your skin cell’s ability to regenerate.

If your skin cells are better able to reproduce and maintain themselves they are less likely to become inflamed resulting in an occurrence of eczema.

Taking additional oil supplements will also help your skin renew itself more quickly and stay conditioned. Fish oils, such as salmon oil, are rich in vitamin E.

Black currant and Flaxseed oil have shown an amazing ability to boost skin health. Some oils, such as Evening Primrose Oil, may even help balance hormone issues which some scientists believe are responsible for certain types of eczema.

When you begin an oil supplement you should introduce oils into your system individually. Make sure you know how your body reacts after a period of time taking one oil supplement before adding an additional oil supplement.

Atmosphere Control

This may surprise you but simply controlling the air around you is a very good treatment for eczema. The atmosphere around you has a very profound effect on the health of your skin as well as your overall health.

Furthermore, poor air quality is believed to be one of the triggers for eczema, making it all the more important that you keep your atmosphere balanced.

First, always make sure that you are breathing fresh air. No matter if you are indoors or out, fresh air can make a big difference between having an outbreak of eczema or not.

Stuffy air is more likely to be dry and filled with dust, dander, mold, fungal spores, and other known eczema triggers. This air does not circulate and you are exposed to the irritants or allergens in greater quantities and for a longer period of time.

Make sure your air is always fresh and circulating. This may mean you only need to open a window or you may need to run a fan throughout the house. You should also invest in air filters that clean the air as it is circulated.

Ideally, your household air unit should include a quality filtration system so that all of the air in your home is fresh and clean.

Maintaining humidity is also an important aspect of atmosphere related eczema treatments. As you learned under the Conditioning Lotions portion of this article, moisture is critical to keeping skin healthy and help healing.

Central air units have a tendency to sharply decrease the moisture in the air which can leave your skin dehydrated and susceptible to an occurrence of eczema.

If you already have an outbreak, a lack of humidity in the air will exaggerate the itching and skin flaking. It is better to invest in a humidifier, especially a whole-house humidifier if you can afford it.

Make sure your humidifier allows you to control the percent of moisture in the air. Otherwise it may become too damp in your home and promote the growth of mold.

Next Steps

To learn more about how to treat eczema using these natural methods and more, check out the ebook Vanish Eczema.

The ebook is written by a former eczema sufferer. He used these internal and external complimentary therapies, along with many others he details in the book, as his preferred eczema treatment for curing his own condition.

You can learn how to use his methods to control and prevent your condition.

If it is not treated correctly, eczema can dramatically lower your quality of life. Many times, the standard medical treatments are not enough.

You must also protect your skin both from internally and externally. Using these natural treatments to compliment your medical therapy will greatly improve the health of your skin and give you back control over your quality of life.

Eczema Cure – Natural Cure for Eczema

Blake — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:52:14 +0000

If you have been researching how to cure eczema then you already know that it is a complicated subject.

While there are plenty of medical options to treat an occurrence of eczema, also called excema, medicine does not offer an eczema cure.

Treating symptoms is never as good or as healthy as controlling the condition and preventing an occurrence from ever happening.

Since there are no substantial medical alternatives that offer control and prevention, you must look to natural cures for eczema that are safe and effective.

The best course of treatment is one that offers long term solutions to your problem that promote your body’s overall health along with the health of your skin.

This article will help you better understand some of the safe and natural, alternative cures for eczema and resources you can use to learn even more.

Immune Health And Eczema

Your first step to finding your natural cure for eczema is to keep your immune system functioning in a superior condition. For most cases of eczema, it is believed that it is a result of an immune system reaction to an allergen or irritant trigger.

Many times, there is already an existing condition such as chemical toxicity or hormone imbalance that is already threatening your body. If your body feels that it is already in a weakened condition when it encounters a trigger, it will cause the immune system to overreact and result in a severe outbreak of eczema.

There are many supplements out there to boost your system, but the most effective way to improve your immune health and achieve your cure for eczema is through wholesome and nutritious food. So many of the foods we consume as a society are over processed and filled with chemicals that release toxins into our bodies.

These toxins slow our bodily functions, complicate the metabolism of necessary nutrients, strain the heart and lungs, reduce the oxygen levels in your blood, and impede the body’s ability to heal itself.

These foods do not let our body’s natural biological processes function properly and the immune system becomes significantly impaired resulting in an occurrence of eczema.

Your body’s biological processes are very complex. Simply explained, your body runs on a very careful balance of hormones, enzymes, and other natural chemicals that are easily thrown off balance by harmful foods.

When you consume foods that are filled with artificial hormones, you threaten your own natural hormone balance. In fact, many scientists believe that the more severe forms of eczema, such as atopic dermatitis, are from the immune system’s reaction to a hormone imbalance.

Even foods without hormones put you at risk for an outbreak. The dyes, acids, and other chemicals found in most processed foods are foreign to your body and can dramatically hinder your organ function, resulting in further hormone imbalances and possibly even organ failure.

Therefore, detoxifying your body by eliminating this food is one of the most important methods of natural eczema cures.

Foods to Promote Immune Health

This is why it is important that you clearly understand what it meant by over processed or chemical filled foods and why they are so harmful.

Foods such as bleached flours and sugars, deli and canned meats, and artificially ripened fruits and vegetables have literally had any nutrients processed out of them and replaced with artificial preservatives, hormones, dyes, acids, and other chemicals.

Red meat, along with non-organic chicken and pork, is often filled with hormones and antibiotics that were fed to the animal while still alive.

Even so-called “natural” foods that are canned were exposed to unnatural heat that changed the makeup of the food and storage further deteriorated any nutrients that remained.

Although foods the foods listed above are likely to cause a reaction, “whole”, fresh foods are one of the best eczema cures and can reverse the damage done to us by toxic, unnatural foods.

These foods can be broken down into substances that either directly nourishes the body, promote superior bodily function, or helps eliminate toxins from your system.

For example, fruits and vegetables provide your body with the vitamins and minerals it needs to promote organ and immune system functionality. Whole grains, legumes, and soy give your body a steady supply of energy and promote metabolism.

Foods like apples, papaya, squash, and nuts are rich in fiber which strips and removes toxins from your system.

Also remember that food preparation is a key to maintaining the healing nutrients within the food. Always try to avoid heating food as much as possible.

If you must heat your food, cook it at a lower temperature and never microwave it. Slow cookers are an excellent way to heat food. Try not to cook it in fats and oils that add unnatural fatty acids and breakdown nutrients.

If you must use oils, try flaxseed, sesame seed, or related oils that retain their nutrients when heated.

Natural Protection For Your Skin

In addition to detoxifying yourself inside, you must also treat your skin in a way that promotes good health and prevents eczema. Just as the foods we consume are filled with toxins, many of the creams, beauty products, skin products, and even clothing are full of irritants and allergens that cause eczema.

A first step to taking care of your skin is to eliminate any clothing, bedding, and other fabrics which touch your skin that are rough feeling or made from manmade materials.

100% cotton material, especially organic cotton, is typically soft and free of allergens and irritants. Cotton fabrics are also light and let your skin breathe. This will prevent overheating and sweating that can cause contact dermatitis eczema.

Letting your skin breathe is vital to keeping yourself healthy and finding your eczema cure. In addition to wearing light clothing, you should also keep the air clean in your home.

Use an air filter and make sure that air moves freely in your home. Also, keep the humidity level in balance within your home. Do not let the air become too dry or this will easily trigger an eczema flare up.

Finding Your Own Eczema Cure

These are just a few of the many natural techniques to cure eczema. This article has only shown you a small portion of the natural treatments and methods you can use to cure your condition.

If you want to find lasting relief, it is important that you learn all you can about your condition and the natural options available to you.

There are very good resources available out there that will give you this knowledge and one of the best is the ebook Vanish Eczema.

The ebook is a comprehensive collection of information about the different forms of eczema and how they are best treated. It addresses both medical and natural therapies.

Also, it recommends many long term natural techniques such as diet, food preparation, and environmental adjustments that will help you find your eczema natural cure.

There is a great section describing how to detoxify your body to promote your immune and overall health. There is even recommended meal plan recipes and a shopping list so you know how to buy the best, wholesome foods.

If you are suffering from eczema, there is no time like the present to start improving your immunity, eating right, and making lifestyle changes to improve your health and prevent outbreaks.

The standard medical treatments available only treat an occurrence and its symptoms. Instead, focus on safe, natural ways to permanently control and prevent your eczema.