Bathing

The Basics: What Every Eczema Patient Should Know

 

The Facts

The word eczema is derived from a Greek word meaning “to boil over,” which is a good description for the red, inflamed, itching patches that occur during flare-ups of the disease. Eczema is a general term for any type of dermatitis or inflammation of the skin. There are different types of eczema. The most common is called atopic dermatitis (AD).

AD falls into a category of diseases called atopic, a term originally used to describe the allergic conditions asthma and hay fever.

Bathing & Moisturizing

When your skin is dry, it is not because it lacks grease or oil, but because it fails to retain water. For this reason, a good daily skin care regimen focuses on the basics of bathing and moisturizing.

Video: Starting From Scratch

The purpose of this program is to provide information about basic skin care for people with eczema and sensitive skin, including the safest and most effective ways to bathe and moisturize. Armed with this knowledge, eczema sufferers and people with sensitive skin can enjoy the skin they're in.

Seal of Acceptance: Product Directory - Personal Care

The products listed have applied for and been awarded the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance™.

Bleach Baths for Babys?

Are there any problems with giving bleach baths to a 6-month-old baby with eczema? Can the baby’s skin tolerate bleach baths? What is the ideal concentration for the bleach bath for my baby?

What is the wet-dry cycle?

Q:  What is the wet-dry cycle, and why is it bad for eczema?

A:  The wet-dry cycle refers to the drying of skin dampened with water or perspiration. Imagine a muddy field: if the sun dries the field quickly, the mud cracks; if it dries slowly on a cloudy day the mud stays smooth. Skin with eczema is especially likely to crack in low humidity conditions when it dries quickly. Applying a moisturizer to slow the drying of wet skin is therefore especially important in the winter when the humidity is lower.

Allergic to Chloramine

Dear NEA Scratch Pad:

Several years ago, I was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis. The photo shows the rashes on my back, and there were similar rashes on most of the rest of my body. Fortunately I discovered that the problem was chloramine, a mixture of ammonia and chlorine that is used to disinfect the tap water in many areas of the United States (including the San Francisco Bay area, where I live). After I stopped using our water, my skin cleared up completely. I’m sure there are folks with similar problems who are not aware of this chemical and are suffering as a result.

Dermatology Physicians Residents - Perspectives on Eczema

Submitted by Garibyan_Huang
on Thu, 08/09/2012 - 5:08pm

We first learned about atopic dermatitis while studying medicine at Harvard Medical School.  It was introduced to us during dermatology lectures where photos of mostly young children where shown with uncomfortable and itchy appearing rashes.  At that time, this was another disease that we had to learn and memorize the symptoms and the diagnostic criteria for our exams.  

This all changed a few years ago after we started residency and rotated through pediatric dermatology at Children’s Hospital Boston when we actually got to see and interact with the patients and family members of those

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Moisturizing and Bathing Tips to Help Manage and Soothe Your Eczema

This article is an excerpt from Sandra Oehlke’s speech at the Fourth Annual National Eczema Association Patient Conference.

Everyday Skin Care: Maintaining Skin Integrity and Avoiding Inflammation

Excerpted from a presentation by Peter Lio, MD, at the 2010 National Eczema Association Patient Conference. Dr. Lio is Assistant Professor of Dermatology and Pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and a Founding Director of the Eczema Care & Education Center.

A Combination of Things Helped Me

I just finished my last light therapy treatment yesterday. But I’ve been doing great many months prior to finishing this. I don’t know what exactly it is ... or if it is a combination of things.

Chlorinated Swimming Pool Helped

During my youth I had a severe problem and the ointments prescribed drove me crazy. After I went into a chlorinated swimming pool on several occasions did the problem finally go away.

Bleach Alternative?

Q: I’ve had an adverse reaction to bleach. Is vinegar or chlorine a substitute?

Bleach Baths

Can you give me practical advice about bleach baths—how much bleach goes in the tub, do you rinse it off, etc.?

Daughter's Eczema: Combination of Products

My daughter, Madeline, has had eczema since she was 3 months old. She is now 8 and only recently did we find a combination of products that has helped. She started doing UVB light therapy in June and that brought moderate improvement, but the real change came when I switched her from the wash and ointment she had been using to a natural olive oil soap and TriDerma’s Eczema Fast Healing Cream.

12-Year-Old Son: Warm Tub & Aquaphor

The most important ways my 12-year-old son can care for his skin are to take a 15-minute soak in a warm tub each evening followed by an application of a healing ointment such as Aquaphor.

Cider Vinegar Warm Bath

I have found that adding two cups of apple cider vinegar to a warm bath does wonders for my skin! After adding the vinegar to my bath water recently, I just sat in the tub for about 15 minutes. I did not use any soaps, etcetera, while in the tub to prevent any of the products from mixing in the water. After sitting for 15 minutes I got out and my skin felt great! In fact, my skin felt so good that for the first time in a long time I didn’t even moisturize and was able to go straight to bed. I am not in the middle of a flare-up, but no matter what, I always have dry skin.

Salt Baths, Petroleum Jelly and Probiotics for Daughter

My daughter was diagnosed with eczema when she was six months old and the battle began. My daughter has what is considered a “mild” case, which has always been disturbingly humorous to me because although her skin usually looks pretty good, her demon is the excessive, no mercy, never-ending “itch.”

Aveeno and Cotton Dacron Blends

Water used to make my skin burn, so we would use Aveeno in the bath water, which helped to soften it.

Best Habits for Six-Year-Old Son

My six-year-old has experienced moderate to severe eczema since he was four weeks old. The worst of times seemed to be when he was 18 months to three and a half years old.

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