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Eczema and Dermatitis Herbal Treatment - McDowell's Herbal Treatments

The terms eczema or dermatitis are used to describe certain kinds of inflamed skin conditions including allergic contact dermatitis and nummular dermatitis. Eczema can be red, blistering, oozing, scaly, brownish, or thickened and usually itches. A particular type is called atopic dermatitis or atopic eczema.

skin

Atopic Dermatitis or Atopic Eczema

The word "atopic" means there is a tendency for excess inflammation in the skin and linings of the nose and lungs. This often runs in families with conditions such as asthma, sensitive skin, migraines and psoriasis.
Atopic dermatitis is very common in all parts of the world. It affects about 10% of infants, while it can occur at any age it is most common in infants and young adults. The skin rash is very itchy and can be widespread, or limited to a few areas. The condition frequently improves with adolescence, but many patients are affected throughout life, although not as severely as in early childhood.

Infantile Eczema

This is an itchy, oozing, crusting rash and occurs mainly on the face and scalp, but patches can appear anywhere especially in flexures of elbow, neck and knees. Because of the itch, children may rub their head, cheeks, and other patches with a hand, a pillow, or anything within reach. Many babies improve before two years of age.

Eczema in later life

In teens and young adults, the patches typically occur on the hands and feet. However, any area such as the bends of the elbows, backs of the knees, ankles, wrists, face, neck, and upper chest may be affected. When it appears on the palms, backs of the hands, fingers, or on the feet, there can be episodes of crusting and oozing.
Other eczema patches in this stage are typically dry, red to brownish-gray, and may be scaly or thickened. The thickened areas may last for years without treatment. The intense, almost unbearable itching can continue, and may be most noticeable at night. Some patients scratch the skin until it bleeds and crusts. When this occurs, the skin can get infected.

What can you do to treat it?

  • The first step for good skin health is to always drink plenty of clean, pure, filtered water to help the kidneys flush properly and reduce the amount of snack, junk and oily food to give your liver a rest and speed up elimination.
  • Eat as much organic, unprocessed food as you can. Eliminating pesticides and herbicides goes a long towards removing more of the toxic burdon on our elimination system. Try to eliminate grains like wheat, eggs, dairy, canola products like oil and margarines, soy and corn.
  • Don't use antibiotics as this only kills the secondary infection and slows down the process of elimination. Long courses of strong antibiotics also damage your liver, your immunity and metabolism generally.
  • Take care of your gut health. Eat beneficial foods to feed the microbiome. Beneficial microbes may soothe inflammation, heal a leaky gut, and balance the immune system. The good news is that beneficial microbes are found in fermented foods and probiotic beverages. These superfoods can restore the microbial ecosystems of the body. Read more about gut healing here
  • Try to include as much vegetable and fruit in your diet. Eat more blueberries and raspberries, pears, watermelon, kale and spinach, sprouts and lettuce. Consume more avocado, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and hemp seeds.
  • Teas to include in your diet every day include rooibos, mint tea, rosehip tea, green or white tea, gingle tea, nettle leaf tea and chamomile tea. Avoid all alcohol. If you must drink alcohol, have triple distilled vodka with sparkling water. Avoid artifical sweetners as they disrupt the gut flora. 

McDowells Recommendations

My internal mix to address these very uncomfortable conditions contains:- Chamomile, Burdock, Vervain, Mistletoe, Hypericum and Euphorbia along with the Bach Flowers Red Chestnut, Chestnut Bud and Vervain.

Externally I recommend applying a mix of Chamomile, Elecampane, Vervain and Golden Seal in a Hypericum Oil Base along with the Bach Flowers Red Chestnut, Crab Apple, Vervain and Rescue Remedy. 

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McDowell's staff Herbalists can not diagnose your disease or illness. What they can do is offer a herbal program to assist with healing, after you have had advice from your doctor or specialist. If you have unexplained pain or symptoms, seek medical advice.

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