Natural Treatment for Eczema

Eczema is a chronic skin condition characterized by eruptions on the outer layer of the skin that often itch and may be red or oozing. If your dermatologist has diagnosed you with eczema, natural treatment may be an appropriate and effective way to reduce or possibly eliminate these eruptions and the associated itchiness.

Your medical doctor will probably prescribe corticosteroid creams, such as hydrocortisone. Corticosteroids work by inhibiting your body's immune system. These creams may successfully control or cut back symptoms, but they do not address the underlying conditions that may have led to the eczema in the first place. Often symptoms will return if the cream is not regularly applied and, for many patients, the steroid creams do not offer adequate relief. In other words, many patients are not satisfied with the conventional medical approach.

How does holistic medicine approach eczema? To understand this, let's think about that hydrocortisone cream from another viewpoint. As mentioned above, corticosteroids work by inhibiting your body's immune response. Your body makes its own corticosteroid, known as cortisol, which is often referred to as the "stress hormone" because it is released in greater amounts during times of stress. And what does it do in times of stress? Essentially, it turns down the activity of physiological functions that are not immediately necessary, giving precedence to immediate needs (running away from predators, for instance). When you apply hydrocortisone cream, the corticosteroids in the cream are telling the local immune system in the skin to stop paying attention to the inflammation for now. This physiological mechanism demonstrates one simple thing about eczema: your immune system is causing it.

Now, why would your immune system do that? The immune system reacts to external threats in order to protect you. It must be reacting to something. No doubt, some of the first questions a dermatologist might ask you are whether you've changed laundry detergent or medications. Conventional medicine will often stop here, but in holistic healthcare, there is an understanding that many other factors can contribute. Quite often it is food. Eczema often resolves after certain reactive foods are removed from the diet, though different patients will often react to different foods.

We can take this inquiry further. Why is the body so reactive to that food or other substance? It could be the result of long-term stress, which can compromise the integrity of the membranes that line the digestive tract and respiratory tract. It can also be the result of poor dietary choices.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, eczema develops due to an Invasion of External Wind and specific acupuncture points and herbal medicines are used to clear that Wind. In homeopathic theory, eczema is generally a manifestation of the psoric miasm and specific homeopathic remedies are used to resolve the miasm. While the terms "External Wind" and "psoric miasm" may sound strange to our ears, the important point is that both of these systems of alternative medicine have safely and successfully treated eczema by applying their own theoretical framework.

If you would like to learn more about treating eczema holistically, call 917-267-9355 to make an appointment with Dr. Hanson today!