Eczema: How I Fought the Battle and Won

Anybody that has had a child with eczema or has had it themselves knows that getting rid of it can be an uphill battle. Many actually throw their hands up and resign themselves to a life of merely trying to coexist with this annoying condition. Though you don't have to suffer with the itching and discomfort because there are may solutions and cures to this nasty little problem, I know because I fought the battle and have come out victorious.

From 1995 when my daughter was born to 2002 when I rid our lives of our old friend eczema my home was a virtual pharmacy. I had every cream, lotion and potion known to man for taming this irritating condition. We used steroid creams and non-steroid creams both prescription and non-prescription. Lotions, creams and soaps recommenced by our physician. Lotions, creams and soaps recommended by friends and family. Nothing seemed to kick it all together, though many things helped to an extent.

Eczema is widely believed to be a hereditary condition and is caused when your bodies immune system overreacts to certain irritants or allergens. It can be triggered by things such as illness, allergy and chemical sensitivity. Since eczema causes the skin to become extremely itchy and dry, complications such as infection often arise especially in young children who have a hard time not scratching like crazy.

For many years I subscribed to the prescription cream theory and my daughter used many of the well known remedies widely believed by doctors to ease the symptoms of eczema. None of them ever rid her of the worst patches and for the most part they just mildly controlled the less bothersome areas she had. As she got older this became a front burner issue for us because she had severe patches on the backs of her legs and they became a source of embarrassment for her when wearing shorts or a bathing suit. As you can imagine, other children would tease her and it was around this time that I began researching eczema myself and looking further than the pamphlets that were given to me at the doctors office in search of a better solution for her problem. Incidentally around that same time I had seen a news report that one of the very prescription creams that I had been slathering on my daughter regularly was believed to cause or contribute to certain forms of cancer.

My first major discovery came when I started reading about detergents and how harsh they can be on the skin stripping it of it's natural oils and making it more suseptible to allergens. Of course in todays modern world it is simply unreasonable to think that we can always in every scenario purchase some magical formula that washes our clothes without these terrible detergents. So what I did was simply choose a detergent that is very basic and free from all perfumes dyes and other unnecessary ingredients. That helped considerably.

After experiencing a considerable amount of success when I switched the detergent I began researching further into the other products we were using. I kept coming upon articles discussing Sodium lauryl sulfate which is a common detergent used in many household products. Sodium lauryl sulfate is used favorably over other products because of it's ability to thicken and create more lather, but is also very harsh and known to cause skin irritation in some individuals. At this point I went on the hunt for products for my daughter that did not contain Sodium lauryl sulfate and after hours on the Internet I found many. The first problem for me was weeding out all of the herbal and natural products because my daughter is allergic to a lot of the stuff that grows from the earth. The most simple and first change we made after this discovery was switching from soap to cleanser. This was fairly easy to do because most stores sell cleansers like Cetaphil, that you can use on your entire body not just your face. If you are like me and you are budget conscience most major department stores like Wal-Mart sell an identical off brand skin cleanser that works just as well. Changing her to cleanser was the largest break through of all my discoveries and pretty much cleared up the bulk of the problem, including the patches on the backs of her legs that we had been unable to clear up for so many years.

From the changes we had made her eczema was almost entirely cleared up but she was still getting small patches periodically, so I decided to continue with our product metamorphosis. The next item on our hit list was shampoo and this was a tricky one because trying to find a shampoo without Sodium lauryl sulfate was like trying to find a needle in haystack. I can only assume that consumer studies have shown that people like lathering their hair with a nice thick shampoo! Finally though I came up with some options that I didn't have to order through the Internet or through a person selling wellness products. I chose DHS clear shampoo which did the trick clearing up what was left of the eczema and I was able to find it at a local beauty supply store around the corner from my home. You can also use California Baby products and there are several other natural brands that make shampoo without Sodium lauryl sulfate but have too many natural ingredients for my daughter to use.

Don't get my wrong my daughter is allergic to just about everything under the sun so we still have our flare ups, but those simple changes made our lives almost itch free and a whole lot easier. We still follow the original guidelines laid out for us by her physician minus the prescription creams and I am not a doctor so it is always advisable to check with your physician before making any changes to your skin care routine. However, with that said changing the detergent, soaps and shampoos we were using was what got us over the hurdle and hopefully by passing this information along others can join us in enjoying a less itchy life.