Eczema – A Holistic Approach

Having eczema can be so distressing for children. It's itchy, can get infected and even cause long term scarring. Sadly it's difficult to prevent and to treat with no real cure being known.

We know that children with eczema usually have a genetic predisposition but there are a number of factors that can trigger it. Research is trying hard to pin point these factors, and although we don't know all the answers there are certainly some indicators of what may help.

I believe that the best way to manage eczema is holistically. This means working out what triggers it as well as formulating a comprehensive management that incorporates diet, environmental exposures, sleep, stress and also supporting the microbiome. The microbiome is integral in forming a balanced immune response and it's relationship to eczema and other atopic conditions (food allergies, asthma) is being closely studied.

This doesn't mean that creams aren't important, they absolutely are, but there's more to treatment than just applying creams.

On the topic of creams, it is vital to ensure you are regularly moisturising your child's skin. I often say the first 3 steps in managing eczema are: 1. moisturise 2. moisturise 3. moisturise. This is because eczematous skin has a defective barrier which means fluids are lost and skin becomes dry, itchy and susceptible to inflammation. Effective moisturising helps prevent this. When choosing a cream use a simple hypoallergenic one, possibly with ceremides, but I can talk more about creams in another post. Used correctly, steroid creams are also an important part of controlling flare-ups and inflammation.

I recently chatted about eczema in an Instagram Live and I've included this below. Please comment below if you'd like more information on eczema.