AD | Tips & Advice for Eczema & how to ease that itch!
When I was younger, gosh, going back to my teenage years {many moons ago}. I suffered really quite severely with eczema. It attacked the creases of my arms, the backs of my knees, my hands, in between my fingers. It was brutal, so itchy, and drove me insane. The doctors would always give my parents an idea of the triggers, but I guess everyone is different, aren’t they? I even recall that after having to use sugar soap at work, it caused my hands to flare up so much that both of them needed to be bandaged up. Fully. And the amusing thing was, I went to the doctor on my bike! But, these things happen don’t they! However, aside from my own experience, throughout this post, I will share with you 5 triggers for eczema and how to help ease that itch!
What is eczema?
I thought it was best to explain what eczema actually is before going any further into this post. Just in case you aren’t really aware of what it is, what can cause it, and so on. Eczema is a condition that causes your skin to become red, dry, itchy, and cracked. Atopic Eczema or Atopic Dermatitis is more common in children, however, adults can develop it too.
The areas of the body it can affect are the backs of elbows and knees, hands, the face, and even your scalp. Eczema sufferers can also relate to having periods of time where their condition is less noticeable and other times when they’re experiencing a flare-up.
It can be a long-term chronic condition and take many years to reduce in severity or go away entirely. My own eczema condition cleared up entirely once I reached my late teens. However, this may not be the case with everyone.
Triggers for Eczema
If you are a parent of a child who has any food allergies, whether it be dairy, gluten, wheat etc. Your child could be more susceptible to developing eczema. These could also act as triggers and cause an eczema flare-up. Your GP would normally advise keeping a food diary for your child. That way you’ll be able to hopefully pinpoint the foods that cause eczema to become irritated and itchy.
For me personally, it was chocolate and hot weather. And for my daughter? Her triggers are hot weather and not drying her skin properly following a bath or a shower. The same applies after visiting the swimming baths because the chlorine in the water can be a trigger too. So make sure to have a good shower after you’ve visited the swimmers. Also remember after baths, showers etc, to rub the skin gently as to not irritate the skin further. However, there is lots more helpful information for Eczema from Oxford Online Pharmacy.
Other environmental irritants of atopic eczema are weather {hot weather}, laundry detergents, stress & soaps. Your GP would also consider an allergy test, because if your child does have food allergies. This could help to identify if the food allergy is causing the eczema flare-up or not.
Ways to help an eczema flare-up!
When I was younger, I recall my parents giving me lukewarm porridge oat baths and rubbing moisturiser on my skin at every given opportunity. Nowadays though, times have changed and medical treatments have evolved. However, I sometimes find those ‘old tips’ still work well.
When it comes to my own daughter, rubbing Oilatum cream on her skin really helps her. And there is an Oilatum bath oil that really helps her skin, too. It is completely fragrance-free, which is very important to have when treating eczema. Her eczema isn’t as bad as it was when she was a baby, but she still gets flare-ups at the age of 8yrs old. And the cream that helps her now is a simple hydrocortisone cream 1% that is available at most, if not all pharmacies.
Other ways to help eczema sufferers are the following:
· Apply moisturizer to the skin at least twice a day i.e. morning & evening before bed
· Do not scratch! Very important!
· Apply hydrocortisone cream {anti-itch cream} to the affected area{s}
· Make a cold compress {a wet face cloth or bandage} and apply to the itchy area · Run your child {or yourself} a Colloidal Oat Bath.
And those are my tips for eczema flare-ups! I hope you’ve found the information in this post helpful and I’d love to know in the comments below, if you have eczema {or had} – how did you treat it?
Disclosure: This is a paid collaborative post with Oxford Online Pharmacy. Images sourced from iStockPhoto and all opinions are my own.
