Traditional eczema treatments – more harm than good?

 

As parents, we often use traditional eczema treatments learned from our own families when treating our children.

With that in mind, Atopis creator Dr Iona Weir asks: could use of these remedies actually worsen your child’s skin in the long term?

As parents we seem to be hardwired to reach for what we believe to be a longtime staple of the first aid kit or the bathroom cupboard, especially in the middle of the night when stress levels are high and our child is miserable and crying.

We might even go into the kitchen and whip up a treatment that has been used in the family for generations, or fossick around the drawers for at least what’s left in an elderly tube of steroid cream.

This might provide temporary relief, but there are real dangers for a young child’s skin from the use of steroid and even traditional skin treatments and remedies – even those used for generations.

I recently asked my customers what they’ve used on skin complaints like eczema and psoriasis in the past. I got back what a scientist like me would consider a veritable ‘witches brew’ of potentially harmful substances – particularly in the long term. These included: urea creams, baking soda, antibiotics, tar products such as pinetarsol and other ‘general use’ petroleum-based preparations.

In an earlier blog, I also talked about a GP colleague who suffers from what his children call ‘monkey hands’. Wrinkled and unsightly, his hands were smothered with steroids as a child by his well-meaning mother. Unfortunately, this has led to irreparable damage. Not only do steroids cause skin thinning, but in children under three years there is increased risk of cancers such as leukemia and stunted growth.

The short-term relief from these treatments will not restore your skin’s microflora, which plays a vital role in supporting your immunity system, nor lead to healing of the skin. Instead, it will dry it out and remove any good bacteria – damaging the skin’s pH level and epidermal barrier. This will worsen the eczema and make you even more sensitive to allergens. When you are in a wretched itch-scratch-apply cycle from using some remedies, this can also lead to scarring and infection, which is likely to require skin-thinning steroids.

Due to these risks and having worked on pharmaceutical eczema products and seen the outcomes, I decided to develop a suitable product (Atopis) that could be used to reduce eczema flare ups and therefore limit the use of steroids, except in the most extreme cases. After many years of research and clinical trials, I was thrilled to release to market an all-natural eczema cream.

The vicious itch-scratch-apply cycle needs to be broken for the good of your child’s skin and wellbeing. With Atopis, you’re using a clinically proven treatment and nature’s own healing and immunity properties to provide not just relief but restoration to your skin’s unique microflora.

For those unfortunate parents on night duty, the Atopis cream’s natural effectiveness lasts two years in the tube so it’s perfect for the bathroom cabinet or even if it’s lost at the back of the kitchen drawer!
[convertful id=”13845″]

To find out more about the Atopis Dry Itchy Skin Relief Cream, click here.