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If you or a loved one is affected by eczema, you’ll no doubt be frustrated by its constant flare-ups, itching, and unpredictability. This irritating condition affects around 10% of the adult population of the UK, as well as around 5% of children, and this percentage is on the rise. Eczema can be particularly distressing when it affects children.
Read on to understand what lies behind eczema and how to naturally support skin health.
Eczema Explained
Also called atopic dermatitis, the itchy red patches of skin will be familiar to you if you’re affected. These tend to worsen in response to various triggers. In some people, their condition flares up during dry weather. Others find eczema is triggered by airborne allergens, eating certain foods such as soya, dairy, wheat or eggs, or stressful events. On the other hand, it can be brought on by substances coming into contact with the skin such as detergents. In this latter case, eczema is known as contact dermatitis.
What Causes Eczema?
Your skin has a protective barrier on its outer surface. This should consist of tightly packed cells, lubricated by fats and oils. When eczema develops, gaps occur between these cells, allowing moisture and other substances to pass through. These then trigger the immune system.
Lying at the heart of eczema is excessive uncontrolled inflammation and an immune system that has become overactive, responding aggressively to even minor irritants. In fact, eczema is more common amongst people who suffer from other allergic conditions like asthma or hay fever.
Is Gut Health Linked to Eczema?
Your gut and your skin are intimately linked. If gut health is struggling, this can cause widespread inflammation throughout the body which never has a chance to turn off. Furthermore, your gut is home to the vast majority of your immune system. If the delicate balance of the gut bacterial microbiome becomes disturbed, this can cause the immune system to react excessively, further worsening inflammation.
Your gut and your liver work in tandem to process and eliminate toxins from your body. These include those entering the body from the outside, as well as toxins naturally produced during the process of metabolism. If either the gut or the liver is compromised, then toxins will tend to be expelled through the skin instead, causing it to deteriorate.
How is Eczema Treated Conventionally?
Topical treatments work by suppressing the immune response and dampening down inflammation, or simply working as a barrier between the skin and the outside world. Medicines such as oral corticosteroid drugs may be prescribed to calm the immune response.
However, none of these approaches address the underlying reasons why eczema is occurring. In other words, treating symptoms is not correcting what is causing the inflammation and exaggerated immune response. They are dampening down the inflammation locally, but not systemically.
Practical Steps to Manage Eczema
- Feast on oily fish. They contain omega 3 fats, vital for skin barrier health. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, try flaxseed oil instead. Omega 3 is contained in nuts and seeds, too.
- Enjoy fermented foods – think kefir, kombucha and sauerkraut. They’re ideal for supporting a balanced gut microbiome.
- Avoid antibacterial soap. It destroys your skin’s natural microbiome, the complex community of bacteria living on its surface. This ecosystem helps to support the skin’s barrier function and interacts with immune cells to decrease inflammation.
- Switch to natural skin creams, toiletries, detergents and household cleaners. This can help prevent flare-ups of contact eczema.
- Enjoy a wide range of colourful plant foods. They contain natural chemicals helping to calm inflammation. They’re also packed with fibre to feed the healthy gut bacteria.
- Reframe your body’s reaction to stress by practicing breathwork, meditation, and ensuring you have quality sleep. Stress adversely affects the skin’s barrier as well as disrupting the immune system.
An Integrated Approach to Eczema
By looking at your body as an integrated, unique being, we can dig deep and discover the underlying imbalances contributing to your condition. We will investigate what is destabilising your immune system and causing widespread inflammation.
We will investigate your gut health, which is so closely linked with skin health. Sophisticated tests like the GI Map can evaluate the health of your gut microbiome and detect any intestinal permeability, a driver of poor immune function.
By looking at your eating patterns, a Functional Nutritionist can determine whether certain foods are triggering your eczema. A dietary analysis, alongside testing where appropriate, will highlight any skin-friendly missing nutrients needing replenishment. These include vitamin A, with rough, dry skin one symptom of vitamin A deficiency. Also important for retaining skin moisture is vitamin D, concurrently needed for immune health. Then there’s vitamin C, vital for skin repair, anti-inflammatory vitamin E, and zinc, important for the skin’s immune function.
If your liver is struggling, your practitioner may recommend herbs traditionally used for their liver-supportive effects, such as dandelion, milk thistle or artichoke.
Some sufferers of eczema find the presence of mould triggers their condition. We offer a Mycotoxin Mould Panel to reveal any mould exposure contributing to your symptoms.
Whatever your personal triggers, we will investigate them and put them right. An Integrative Health Assessment will take a comprehensive look at your diet and lifestyle and recommend the best pathway for you. This may include dedicated nutritional support from a Functional Nutritional Therapist, stress management with Emotional Freedom Technique, or natural immune regulation using Micro-Immunotherapy.
Start your journey today towards better skin health with Integrative Medicine.
