Everyone has to deal with itchy skin sometime. A mosquito bite, a bout with chickenpox, or an allergic reaction to a wool sweater can set off an irritating episode of itching. But itchy, red, cracked, blistered, and leathery is more than just run-of-the-mill dry skin. You’re battling eczema, a skin condition affecting as many as 30 million Americans.
Maybe you were just born with it. Turns out about 10 percent of infants suffer from some form of eczema. For most, symptoms go away as they get older. But you can also develop one of the seven types of eczema as an adult. It’s important to get a proper diagnosis and understand your triggers — which can range from food allergies to chemical irritants, certain fabrics, and even stress. Eczema tends to flare up, make you miserable for a while, then disappear. Just when you think you’re safe from this itchy intruder, it can strike again, especially during periods of stress.
Eczema can be caused by allergies, either to environmental factors such as dust or pollen or to certain foods. The foods most likely to set off an eczema episode include cheese, egg white, cow’s milk, wheat, fish, and nuts. Taking suspected food triggers out of your diet may help, but be careful to eat a balanced diet. You may be able to cut down on flare-ups by figuring out what foods trigger the problem.
Try the following elimination diet to determine if a food that contains wheat, corn, dairy, eggs, nuts, coffee, or soy is your personal eczema trigger:
• Remove all of the possible culprits from your diet for two weeks. Don’t cheat, or you won’t know for sure what helps.
• One by one, add each food back into your diet and see whether your skin reacts. Do this by including the food at every meal for three days in a row. Allow three days between adding each new food.
• If you have a skin reaction after you start eating a certain food, that’s probably the cause of your troubles. Stop eating it for good, and see if your eczema clears up.
Some skin experts suggest attacking eczema by eating foods that can curb inflammation. Try eating more foods high in beta carotene, like carrots and yams, and omega-3 fatty acids, such as flaxseed and oily fish. Give these a try if the elimination diet doesn’t uncover a problem food.
But first, make sure eating fish doesn’t trigger a flare-up of your symptoms. If you don’t show signs of a food allergy, consider adding more fish to your menu. Choose sardines, wild salmon, or tuna to pack in skin-saving omega-3 fatty acids. Not a fish fan? Try a fish oil supplement instead to fight inflammation and ease your eczema symptoms.
Here are a few more natural ways to exercise some control over this annoying problem.
How about a cup of tea? Studies suggest that drinking oolong tea may heal the sores common with atopic dermatitis, one form of eczema. Tea contains natural chemicals called polyphenols that work to fight your body’s allergic response.
Sunshine — friend or foe? Sunshine may either aggravate or relieve your eczema. Some people are sensitive to sunlight and should avoid exposure. Other people may find relief from their eczema if they get a reasonable amount of sun. Skin professionals often use special lamps that produce ultraviolet B (UVB) light to help relieve symptoms. Ultraviolet light therapy may be helpful, but only under professional supervision. Phototherapy shines a healing light on your skin and some skin disorders, like eczema, benefit from a little illumination — especially the ultraviolet light from the sun. Home sun lamps or tanning beds are not recommended because of the dangers of overexposure.
Skip the salt. Salt may add flavor to your food, but if you have eczema, it might also make you itch. Doctors found that one female patient with severe eczema who was put on low-salt, low-calcium water improved dramatically within two weeks. When they gave her water that was high in salt, her eczema symptoms returned. Since most people eat too much salt anyway, cutting down may be an easy, healthy way to help control your eczema.
Join a team. One study showed that regular exercise — especially team sports — helped relieve eczema symptoms. And it only took three weeks to see improvements. Researchers say exercise has a positive impact on your emotions and self-esteem. But they caution you should avoid sports when your skin symptoms are at their worst. Otherwise, keep moving.
Be good to your skin. For dry skin or chronic eczema, use a good moisturizer and stay away from extremes of hot and cold, like hot baths. Also, avoid skin irritants like wearing itchy wool or scrubbing your skin. Colloidal oatmeal in the form of a bath or lotion may help. Certain proteins and polysaccharides in oatmeal form a barrier to shield your skin, protecting and moisturizing it. You can make your own bath mixture by combining two cups of oatmeal with four cups of water. Boil the mixture, then add to a tub of warm water and soak. Be careful when you step in since the tub will be slippery. You can buy lotions and other skin-care products that contain colloidal oatmeal, such as the Aveeno line of products.
Add a layer of protection. Petrolatum, a thick, jelly-like substance made from petroleum, is considered by many dermatologists to be the most effective moisturizer. It has been proven to reduce the amount of water lost from your skin by about 50 percent. In addition, it protects your skin from irritants and is more deeply absorbed than other moisturizers. But note that petrolatum should not be used over wounds that are weeping or infected.
Dandruff - the uninvited guest. If you have a flaky scalp, eczema may be the cause. Try one of the “medicated” dandruff shampoos. They contain ingredients like salicylic acid or coal tar. A dandruff shampoo will loosen those dry flakes and cleanse your scalp and hair. Always rinse thoroughly, two to three times, and follow up with a hair conditioner.
Use caution when using these stronger shampoos. Shampoos incorporating coal tar can dull or fade lighter hair. They shouldn’t be left on your skin for long periods, and they can make your skin and hair sensitive to sunlight.
Aloe to the rescue. Snap off a stem of your aloe plant or smooth on an aloe-based cream from your natural foods store to relieve the discomfort of eczema. The natural healing compounds in aloe are called anthraquinones and capable of repairing tissue and relieving pain.
Aloe plants are easy to grow, and they are the best possible source of the soothing aloe gel. Aloe products you can buy may lose their healing effects over time. But if you do buy an aloe product, choose one with an aloe concentration of at least 70 percent. And avoid aloe vera extracts and reconstituted aloe products.
Herbalists have touted the aloe vera plant’s medicinal benefits for centuries, using the clear gel from its leaves to treat everything from acne and eczema to poison oak and poison ivy rashes. Supposedly, even Cleopatra smoothed it on as part of her regular skincare routine.
Probiotics protect more than your gut. Your body is full of both good and not-so-good bacteria. Probiotics are deemed “good” bacteria because they help keep your gut balanced and healthy. Depending on your diet, you’re most likely eating foods that provide probiotic bacteria. Probiotics are generally found in dark chocolate, yogurt, and apple cider vinegar and also available in supplement form.
Recent studies have made clear that probiotics aid more than just your digestive system and could prove favorable for people battling eczema. It’s thought that adding good bacteria to your diet could limit or reduce your number of eczema attacks.
TIMs - not TMI. One eczema treatment - a fungus found at the foot of Mount Tsukuba in Japan - gets high marks for treating the intense itching, swelling, cracking, and inflammation of eczema. With new treatments few and far between, scientists got very excited about a new class of steroid-free medications, called topical immunomodulators (TIMs) made from the Japanese fungus. Two of these, tacrolimus and ascomycin, show clinical success — clearing eczema in more than 80 percent of treated patients with few side effects. If you’ve been living with the physical and social discomfort of eczema, talk to your dermatologist about TIMs.
Go cashless? A cashier in Germany developed eczema, a skin condition, on his hands from dyes in the paper money he handled. You might not break out at the sight of a $50 bill, but if you have an unexplainable rash, you could be sensitive to the dyes in other products like cloth, paper, wax, leather, or synthetic materials.
Block that pain. Acupuncture seems to work for some people with atopic eczema by urging your body to produce natural pain-blocking chemicals. A study published in 2018 reported a reduction in itch, lesion size, and recurrence in the acupuncture group compared to the control group. The study’s authors went on to say that acupuncture was valuable in the treatment of AD “by virtue of the fact that it can reduce a patient’s level of stress.”
There’s no cure for eczema, but you can relieve its bothersome symptoms in a number of ways. With a little experimentation and perseverance, you can find a treatment that's just right for you.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional consultation or advice related to your health or finances. No reference to an identifiable individual or company is intended as an endorsement thereof. Some or all of this article may have been generated using artificial intelligence, and it may contain certain inaccuracies or unreliable information. Readers should not rely on this article for information and should consult with professionals for personal advice.