Treatment for atopic eczema, avoiding irritants and 'triggers'
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Avoid irritants and 'triggers' where possible
Many people with eczema have flare-ups of from time to time for no apparent reason. However, some flare-ups may be caused (triggered) or made worse by irritants to the skin, or other factors. It is commonly advised to:
- Avoid soaps, bubble baths, etc, when you wash. They can dry out the skin and make it more prone to irritation. Instead, use a soap substitute plus a bath/shower emollient (see below).
- Wear cotton clothes next to the skin rather than irritating fabrics such as wool. However, it is probably the smoothness of the material rather than the type of the material which helps. Some smooth man-made fabrics are probably just as good as cotton.
- Avoid getting too hot or too cold as extremes of temerature can irritate the skin.
- After you wash clothes with detergent, rinse them well. Some 'biological' detergents are said by some people to be irritating. But there is little proof that commonly used detergents which are used in the normal way make eczema worse.
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ray flanagan, about 1 year
i am in my mid forties, and have developed very bad ezecma over the last few months. on my arms/legs/back/ & neck. i have always had slight ezecma through my life but never this bad. it is very depressing and has caused me to try the chinese herbal & Acupuncuture way. im am not very confident at the moment after 2 weeks of treatment my symptons are getting no better . it is costing a lot of money and they say you must have treatment for at least 6 weeks. and when i suggested i put vaseline on the dry areas they said that it was no good and only blocks the infection. my question to you is am i wasting my money or is there any evidence that their methods work.
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