Get to the root of your Eczema
Eczema (also known as atopic dermatitis) is a common problem that affects approximately 11% of children and more than 7% of adults in the U.S. In most cases, eczema presents before age five.
Eczema is more than skin deep. Our skin is one of the main ways that our bodies detox so when skin issues arise, such as eczema, it is often a sign of a deeper process. Eczema is linked to the skin barrier, but also the immune system, diet, food and environmental allergies, digestive health, liver health, and your stress levels and adrenal glands.
Controlling eczema can be difficult and most physicians prescribe steroids without many other options for their patients. Steroids don’t get to the root cause of your eczema either. This is so frustrating as a patient because steroids have side effects and knowing all of your treatment options is important. There are many different ways to approach eczema that focus on getting to the root cause and don’t involve steroids.
One of the best ways to control your eczema is to avoid your trigger factors. These will vary from person to person and can include food sensitivities and allergies, stressors, dry weather, environmental exposures, and certain body products. Keeping track of when your eczema flares and what you ate and were exposed to prior to the flare up can be helpful in determining your individual triggers.
Check out the 8 following ways to get to the root cause to help you get rid of your eczema.
Manage stress. Stress is a common trigger for eczema, even in kids. Support your body’s natural stress response as well as keep your stress levels to decrease eczema flares.
Boost the immune system. General immune support helps to keep your immune system strong without it being over-reactive. An over-reactive immune system can cause your body to react to external stimuli (such as foods and inhaled substances from the environment) that it shouldn’t. Part of this can be due to stress which makes managing stress even more important.
Treat the gut. A large portion of your immune system is in your gut. Gut dysbiosis (an imbalance in the amount of good and bad bacteria in your digestive tract) can cause an array of problems from skin rashes such as eczema to poor immune function. Balance your gut microbiome to make sure that there are enough good bacteria in your gut (and not too many bad bacteria). Your gut impacts your digestive health, your immune system, and your body’s detox pathways, which means it affects your skin too.
Avoid food sensitivities. Your gut plays a large role in your immune system and overall health and skin symptoms such as eczema are often a sign of poor gut health. One of the many factors that play a role in this are eating foods that you are reactive to. When you eat foods that you are sensitive to, your body reacts with an increased effort to detoxify in order to get rid of that food as well as increased inflammation. The most common food sensitivities seen with eczema are dairy and gluten, but can also include corn, soy, and many others.
Decrease systemic inflammation. Inflammation in your body and your gut leads to decreased immune function, poor detoxification pathways and leaky gut, among other things. This means that you aren’t able to properly digest and absorb nutrients from food and that you can’t detoxify effectively. This then comes out in your skin as eczema.
Help your liver detox. Your liver is responsible for a lot of processes in your body, including detoxification. Supporting your liver is one of the ways to help improve your body’s ability to detoxify so that it isn’t relying on your skin to do it.
Keep skin moisturized. Make sure you are using natural skin products, especially those that are unscented, to avoid triggering a flare up. Pat dry after a bath or shower to help retain some moisture on your skin before applying lotion.
Drink plenty of water. Making sure you are not dehydrated by drinking plenty of water throughout the day helps keep your skin moisture level where it needs to be, and also helps your body detoxify.
It’s easy to see eczema as a skin issue and treat it with topical steroids and hope for the best. However, if you or your child have eczema, you know that steroids are only a temporary fix and don’t come without side effects. Make sure to address the underlying issues to help decrease flare-ups and the need for steroids and actually help resolve the eczema.
Contact Dr. Sahni today to find out how to figure out the deeper root causes of your eczema and what you can do about it.