Posts filed under 'Eczema'
Alternative therapies for curing Eczema
Aromatherapy for Eczema
- Following are some of the recommended oils used for curing Eczema: chamomile oil, fennel oil, hyssop oil, lavender oil & sandalwood. These oils give the person some relief from the burning skin and reduce the inflammation.
- Geranium and juniper oils are used for weeping eczema.
- Calendula oil is used for dry skin. Calendula oil is used for massage. These oils are to be used for clear skin only.
- Normally for massage 2 oils are required, carrier oil and the essential oil. One can use carrier oil such as sweet almond oil. Mix the oil in the different proportions, meaning for 1 drop of essential oil add 5ml of carrier oil.
Evening primrose oil used for curing eczema
Herbalism used to cure eczema
There are many herbal ingredients and products which are good for reducing the skin inflammation and to cure eczema. Some of the herbal elements and herbal products are as follows:
- Aloe vera
- Calendula ointment
- Chamomile infusion (bathe with)
- Heartsease- use an ointment for weeping eczema
Homeopathy treatment for eczema
- For cracked and itching skin calcarea carbonica is used.
- For eczema with weepy and cracked skin Graphites is used.
- For eczema Hepar sulphuris, Natrum muriaticum, Rhus toxicodendron, Sulphur etc are some of the drugs or medicines used for treating eczema.
- For dermatitis Graphites cream is used.
Relxation and eczema
Chinese herbal medicine used for treating eczema
The eczema treatment using Chinese herbal medicine varies from patient to patient. Before consuming any such Chinese herbal medicines, patients have to under go some blood tests. The reason of such blood tests is because some Chinese herbal medicines causes damage to liver. So choose Chinese herbal treatment for eczema should be chosen very wisely because it may cause or start other problems in the body.
Bach flower remedies for eczema treatment.
Eczema self help tips
- Reducing the Eczema itching
- Wear cotton clothes, these clothes keep the skin cool and give sooth feeling. Were as wool and synthetic material such as polyester or nylon clothes can irritate the skin, so try to avoid wearing such clothes.
- Cut your nails frequently. By keeping the nails short you can avoid the infection to get spread and prevent you skin from damaging if scratches. By the way it is not good to scratch you skin, scratching may damage the skin. Distract and stop small children from scratching their skin. Eczema may grow and infect other part of the skin.
- Avoid skin tight clothes. Tight fit clothes may irritate your skin and if it is already wounded then it may still damage your skin. Not good for eczema skin.
- Avoid exposing your skin to sun. If at all you had to go out, take necessary precaution for your skin, wear a good sun screen lotion which suits your skin. Before choosing the sun screen lotion make sure that it suits your skin. Normally eczema skin are very sensitive to any chemicals.
- While going for swimming apply emollients to protect your skin, then wash off the chlorine afterwords and apply more emollient. As far as possible avoid swimming, because chlorine will damage your skin more and if there is a wound than, that part of the skin gives a burning sensation and feels like scratching the skin.
- It is good practice that you apply a good emollient on your child’s skin before he goes out for playing in sun, sand, water, paint etc.
- Use protective clothing as a barrier against glues, paints, clays, chemicals and detergents
- Reduce the effect of the house dust mite
- Avoiding moulds
- Avoiding pet allergens
- Avoiding pollen: Shower and wash your hair before applying emollient creams
- Washing clothes & Eczema
- Avoid taking hot water baths. It is ok to have bath with warm water but make sure that too much time is not spend in bathing. This may disturb the skin oil balance and make your skin look dry. Making use of colloidal oatmeal in bath can keep your skin moisturized and reduce the skin inflammation.
- Make sure that you wash your new clothes before you wear them. This wash will help to remove excess dye or chemical which may harm your skin. Eczema skin is very sensitive to detergents, washing powders and chemicals.
- Making use of heavy detergents and washing powders have a risk that the detergents and chemicals are not rinsed away with the wash. So it is very important to rinse the clothes well enough so that the excess of chemical and detergents are removed which may harm the skin.
- Hard water or salty water makes your skin dry and rough. It is better if you fit a water softener.
- Relaxation & Eczema
- Stress can make eczema worse, relaxation techniques can help to control eczema.
- Swimming & eczema
- Try to find out a non – chlorinated pool, meaning the water not containing chlorine, because chlorine is harmful to the skin.
- Emollient coat on the skin will help preventing the sting before swimming.
- Have a proper shower after swimming which will rinse off all chlorine and apply more emollient to soothe the skin
Which treatments are available for curing Eczema?
There are many treatments available for curing eczema. The treatment to be applied depends upon various parameters like the skin type, skin structure, sensitivity of the skin, any medicine/drug allergy, other allergies to skin or person etc.
Best eczema treatment
Homeopathic treatment is the best treatment for eczema. Normally it is observed that person having eczema is sensitive to lot of things like sunlight, food, medicine, clothes etc. If the skin reaction happens due to any drug or medicine intake then it becomes un-bearable for the sufferer. The appearance of the skin becomes very horrible. This affects the personality of the person, he starts loosing confidence in himself. From many observed cases and experiencing by myself, I feel homeopathy is the best treatment for eczema. Homeopathy medicines normally do not have side effects on the body.
Emollients used for treating eczema
These medicine needs to be applied externally on the skin. Emollients help in reducing the water loss. This will help in keeping the skin moist and so prevent the dryness of the skin causing from eczema. For any kind of skin allergy or skin problem one have to first test it, if such emollients are suiting the skin and not causing any reaction to it. If not tested then there is a possibility that the eczema may even get worse because of the skin reaction. Emollients are available in the form of bath soaps
Tropical corticosteroids
These steroids are not used for curing eczema. But these steroids help to keep the eczema under control. Tropical corticosteroids are used to reduce the inflammation. It is also used to reduce the itchiness and bringing the eczema under control. The prescription of this medicine should be given by doctor only. The strength of this medicine should be decided by your doctor only. Age, skin sensitivity and severity of eczema are some of the parameters for deciding the strength of the medicine.
Oral steroids for treating eczema
In very severe cases when Tropical corticosteroids do not work, then oral steroids are given by your doctor or dermatologist. These steroids may cancel the effect if you are already taking medicines for some other health reasons. Please discuss your other health concerns with your consultant before taking oral steroids.
Wet wrapping is one of the best pain relieving treatment for eczema
Wet wrapping is used to get relief from itchy dry skin. Because of the eczema the skin becomes very itchy, dry and sometimes person suffering feel like scratching the skin. But scratching will further damage the skin so the best option to avoid scratching is to apply the wet wrap over the eczema affected area.
Use of Antihistamine for reducing itchiness caused by eczema
Trimeprazine and hydroxyzine are two sedating antihistamines which help in reducing the itching caused by eczema. The itching tend to worse while sleeping, so taking antihistamines will prevent the eczema to get worse. These drugs are available in the form of tablets and syrup. These medicine causes drowsiness.
Use of Anti-fungal cream for treating eczema
Many a times the treatment of eczema is anti-fungal drugs or medicine. Anti-fungal cream is used to apply on the infected area of the seborrhoeic eczema. Fungal growth is one of the complications of eczema, anti-fungal cream will help to prevent fungal growth.
Ultra-violet light treatment for eczema
In severe cases of eczema doctors or dermatologist may advice you for phototherapy. There are 3 available types of treatments for eczema under phototherapy:
- UVB
- Narrowband UVB
- PUVB (Psoralen ultra violet A)
Once the above treatment is stopped there is a possibility that the eczema may recur. Some doctors & dermatologist are concerned about the ultra-violet treatment for eczema because due to heavy exposure to ultra-violet rays there is a possibility that the person may cause skin cancer.
Gluten free diet
Person suffering from dermatitis herpetiformis may have got rashes on his body. To treat those rashes caused by dermatitis herpetiformis you need to apply sulphone cream. Normally it takes around 2 years to cure rashes caused by dermatitis herpetiformis. This cream will help to keep the rashes under control.
Eczema herpeticum | Kaposi’s varicelliform eruption
The other name for Kaposi’s varicelliform eruption is eczema herpeticum. As we know that eczema is a skin disease which causes the cracks in skin, skin rashes, itchy skin etc. Because of the cracks developed in the skin the virus or the germs grow inside the skin. The skin eruption occurs when the eczema patches are infected by virus. Usually the virus should be herpes simplex virus or coxsackie virus. Sometimes it becomes very difficult to identify if the person is suffering from chicken pox or Eczema herpeticum. The symptoms of chicken pox and eczema herpeticum are very same. So to identify the cause and diagnose the skin disease, the person may have to go through different diagnostic tests to identify the actual disease.
Some eczema forms blisters over the skin, these blisters normally have pus in it, sometimes the blisters are filled with blood. These blisters are covered over the whole body. There is a high possibility that the brain or the spinal cord is affected by this virus. High fever is one of the symptoms of kaposi’s varicelliform eruption.
This eczema can be treated with acyclovir. In severe cases it can be fatal.
Note: Don’t take medicines on your own. Take proper treatment from the reputed and professional doctors to treat such skin disease. The treatments mentioned above are just for your information. These medicines or procedures should not be considered as treatments.
What other eczema complications can occur?
As we all know that eczema causes the skin to crack. Because of the cracks developed in the skin, the germs get a good chance of penetrating inside the deeper layer of the skin.
These germs when grow within the body, they damage the skin more and other infections are seen. Here are some of the infections affecting eczematous skin:
- Staphylococci, if the infection not controlled then it may cause boils. As we now know that the skin oozes some kind of fluid which contains clotting agents present in the blood. Because of the infection the skin inflames and excretes or oozes more fluid out of the body. The infection normally tends to appear on the face, groin, back of the knees, back of the elbow.
- Herpes simplex virus is another infection which is caused because of the germs present in the deeper layer of the skin. Herpes simplex virus may cause cold sores. Herpes simplex virus may cause eczema herpeticum, these are blistery rashes which are formed over the eczematous rash. These rashes cause the skin to be fragile, very delicate. These rashes inside accumulates pus. If this skin is pressed at the right area then the pus and other fluids oozes out of the skin. Flaking of the skin is very painful. Flaking of the skin may cause injury to the skin. Normally this infection starts on the face and spreads over the body. Herpes simplex virus can be treated with acyclovir.
- Warts the other name to warts is human papilloma virus
- Fungi, ringworm and athlete’s foot are different form of fungi.
- Mollusum contagiosum virus