Health : Eczema

Winter is here and the older I get the harder the cold bites into my core temperature. The piercing winter air is causing havoc to my skin - sucking all the moisture from it. What makes it worse is taking a hot shower. My initial intention is always good, setting the water temperature to lukewarm and using moisturizing soap, the idea is to get clean and get out quickly. But once naked, the lukewarm water felt chilling. It didn’t take much to nudge the tap warmer and a little warmer still. Once hot and steamy, it felt good until I stepped out and aged ten folds. My skin immediately itched all over and I could feel my face tighten. My forehead became flaky with dead skin and turned red. What’s worse is that my eyelids do the same. The redness is what bothers me the most. If it were simply dry skin I could live with moisturizing several times a day. It is the inflamed red flaking skin that is most embarrassing.

Eczema on the face or anywhere for that matter; cannot simply be moisturized by standard creams you would use on normal skin. The majority of moisturizers will sting when applied to skin with eczema and will heighten the inflammation and redness. The search for the right cream is not only daunting but frustrating. Many products that claim to be for eczema do nothing for the itching, redness or dryness. Hundreds of dollars easily disappear in search of relief from trying one cream after another. There is prescription topical cream but they contain steroids that can thin the skin with prolong use. If it worked 100% then I would damn the side effects for the benefit of looking normal. Unfortunately, the results are not spectacular enough to warrant continual use.

There is no miracle cream for eczema skin. For years I have been searching without luck, but it turns out I have been looking in the wrong place. It is oils that will help soothe eczema skin. Plagued with dry, red, flaking eyelids, I used a drop of Argan Oil by Josie Maran to moisturize the skin after taking a showering. There is no sting and is not heavy like a cream. The trick is to use only a drop everyday to slowly improve your skin. Over applying does not speed up the process and may irritate it. At first there will be no change to the redness, in fact, like all creams, the oil will more than likely make the skin further red. Be patient, after two month my eyelids were transformed. They still dry out after a hot shower in the winter months but the flaky skin is 90% gone and the redness is 95% gone. Argan oil is derived from the kernals of Argan trees found in Morocco. It is rich in vitamin E and fatty acids.

Another oil to consider is Emu Oil by Kalaya. I use emu oil on my forehead because it would get a red dry patch from wearing a toque over the winter months. It got so bad that I would have a layer of dead skin and would need to alternate between the emu oil and the prescription topical cream. The steroid cream removed the dead skin and calmed down any red inflammation. I would use it once a week and the rest of the days I would apply the emu oil. The emu oil will slowly rehydrate the skin and replace the need for prescription cream. Emu oil is the fat from an Emu bird native to Australia. It has natural anti-inflammatory effects as well as being a great moisturizer.

Hope this helps those suffering from eczema or dry skin. Best of luck.

Words + Photo : Tobin C Studio