Solve Eczema

Today I want to briefly talk about a great site called Solve Eczema. The site was created by a family who wanted cure their child's eczema by looking at the root cause, or trigger of the problem. In their particular case, the baby was reacting to detergents, which unfortunately are found everywhere, including washing powder, washing up liquid, cleaning products, bubble bath, shampoo and toothpaste! Obviously, making the switch to safe alternatives was not easy, but they saw a dramatic improvement in their baby's skin after converting to soap, rather than detergent products.

We may think that soaps and detergents are the same, but they are not. Soaps are formed from a chemical reaction of lye and fat, which creates glycerine. Detergents that we use today were created during World War 2, when the ingredients used to make soap were in short supply. By using petroleum as an ingredient, modern detergents were developed and gained popularity, despite the fact that they can be harmful to health, permeating skin membrane or causing breathing problems, such as asthma.

The Solve Eczema site claims that as many as 60% of all eczema cases may be caused by detergent sensitivity and recommend that sufferers try quitting detergents to see how they get on.

I find this approach refreshing because it gets to the root of the problem. I'm not saying that all eczema is due to detergent allergy, but my point is that by searching for a root cause and eliminating it rather than covering over the problem with "magic creams" seems to be a much more sensible way of dealing with eczema in general.

Parents should consider diet, environment and all possible allergy triggers rather than automatically going down the steroid route. The latter is easier of course, and offers immediate results, but may have nasty long term implications.