Creams, Lotions, Oils & Ointments for Eczema

Best not to buy or use lotions that are in tubs or jars, because if you have a staph infection (and many people with eczema are testing positive for too much staph), when you dip your hand into the jar, rub the cream on your body over the infection and then dip your hand back into the jar, you'll contaminate the cream with staph ... and after treating for staph end up recontaminating yourself. If you've been diagnosed with staph and didn't use a waxing/popsicle stick/spatula, I'd suspect it's contaminated. Call any pharmacist to confirm this theory.

Creams and lotions can have a drying effect, so I save them only for emergency use and not for regular use. Creams are better for drying weepy eczema, and oils and ointments are better for really dry skin that temporarily needs a "bandaid" to heal over.

Were you aware that drying agents for acne actually stimulate the sebaceous glands to make more oil, because they're telling your oil glands that your face is dry so they need to make more oil.  In the same way, did you ever wonder what putting all that oil on your skin is telling your oils glands? From Science Daily, "Skin Creams Can Make Your Skin Drier."  See, also, "Don't Rub it in: Lotions, creams and gels can hurt you."

Mineral oil (paraffin oil) is a good temporary "bandaid" to help the skin heal, because it's the only thing I know of that's inert (won't cause a reaction on hypersensitive skin). It's the same thing as baby oil but with no frangrance and thicker, so you can use it on the face and even on eyelids, since people use baby oil to remove makeup. It's inexpensive, and you'll find it in the laxative section at supermarkets and drugstores. I don't recommend it or any lotion for long-term use, because all lotions make even healthy skin drier, lotions have skin sensitizers in them, and there is debate involving the safety of lotions like Eucerin, Vanicream and Dermabase) involving mineral oil. However, if your skin is shedding, hurting, burning, itching, stinging and hypersensitive and needs moisture so you can bend and move without pain, pure mineral oil was the only thing that moisturized my skin without causing more inflammation. You need to calm the skin down sometimes first before it can handle anything else. Even though other "good" products may help improve the barrier function of the skin like sunflower oil, anything that isn't inert can cause a reaction and itching on hypersensitive skin, even water. So, if you have hundreds of dollars of expensive, excellent products and aren't seeing results, it's understandable ... your skin may be hypersensitive and reacting to everything. So, on the use of mineral oil, since it's sold to drink as a laxative, I'm not worried about short-term use of it on the skin. In sum, preservation of your natural oils is so important, so don't try and get rid of the God-given oil on your skin by using soap.

Do you see how hard it is to wash oil off pots and pans without hot or soapy water? Well, washing off your natural oils with hot soapy water not only takes your natural oils away that you desperately need, but soaps are alkaline and destroy the acid mantle that protects you from imbalances of bacteria on the skin.

Hi, Christina –
I want to thank you for all your time and wisdom/expertise on Friday!
I have been doing the 10 min bath followed by mineral oil – and yes, my skin drinks it in and has improved over the wknd J
I will send some photo updates later, but wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that I am ever grateful!!!
Will keep in touch w/ updates and/or questions.
All my best, and thank you, thank you, thank you!
Chih-Lan

 

My Motto:  The less you over wash your skin, the less you'll dry it out.  The less you dry it out, the less you need to put on it.  The less you put on, the less you aggravate it, and putting a lot of anything on the skin can make it itchy.   Please also see The Proper Perspective Web Page.

Developing sensitivities can be a concern for some people.  I've heard people say things like, "I've used that product a long time and it can't possibly be aggravating my terrible case of eczema."  People develop sensitivities over time.  The treatment for chemical sensitivity is avoidance, this decreases the total body burden and allows for the recovery of the overtaxed detoxification system.  I like to use a product for a while, switch to something else, and then switch back again.  This way the chances of becoming sensitive to products is lessened.  

A word of caution ... lanolin can aggravate eczema.  Refer to:  The Ingredients Web Page and The Anti-Itch Web Page.

See, also, why Dry Brushing helps and Holistic-online on Dry Skin

Internal Help

Remember that with atopic eczema they say that there's a problem in the metabolism of essential fatty acids. The problem is probably that people aren't consuming them or breaking them down. The reason they are called "essential" is because they must be consumed through the diet. Essential fatty acids help form the skin barrier to keep moisture in and reduce transepidermal water loss, and probiotics (good bacteria) will help make the enzymes to break down these essential fatty acids. So, consume good fats like flax and olive oil to moisturize from within.  To help regulate the sweat and oil glands, get enough lecithin, calcium, biotin, zinc and water.   Hyaluronic acid is needed to cushion and lubricate joints, eyes, skin and heart valves.  

When you google "diary oily skin," there are many web sites that say avoid dairy and red meat, because they are loaded with saturated fat and will make your skin oily ... that's what we want.