Eczema And Alternative Therapies

Eczema is known as a skin disease with no known cure. However, skin doctors and other dermatologists have discovered some ways on how to manage the symptoms of the disease.

The primary concern is on the alleviation of the discomfort (itchiness and eventual pain), control of the recurring nature of the disease and the prevention of their causes. Today, there is a collection of medical literature on this.

Alternative therapy

Another approach being studied nowadays is alternative therapies. These are the other methods of fighting the many forms of eczema, particularly the common atopic dermatitis eczema or atopic eczema.

For victims of eczema, new ways that promise to eradicate the disease or at least prevent the symptoms from coming back need to be heard out.

Divergent effects

Researchers have found out that some therapies that were incorporated into a treatment plan devised by dermatologists can sometimes help.

The other therapies simply do not have any effect at all. Some even caused serious side effects. Here are some of the few known ones.

Behavior modification and topical therapy

Behavior modification is a set of techniques used in helping people change their actions to get desired results. This can be added to the treatment plan prescribed by a dermatologist to produce clearer skin.

Practiced in the United Kingdom, the method is to teach techniques to patients to avoid scratching. From nurses, they receive one-on-one training on how to use moisturizers and their medications.

Studies had shown that the combined approach had produced some startling results.

Reducing the habit of scratching (people with atopic eczema scratch their skin 500 to 1000 times a day), combined with the topical therapy gave some promising results. Even people suffering from long-term atopic dermatitis had shown significantly clearer skin.

Stress prevention

Doctors had long noted that stress can trigger flare-ups of eczema. Studies had shown that when stress strikes, the skin starts to itch.

Today, there is a continuing study on the effectiveness of many stress-reduction techniques. Some of the stress-reduction techniques include biotherapy, progressive muscle relaxation, and massages.

However, these studies are too small at present and their results, while encouraging, are not sufficient to draw significant conclusions from. What came out is that keeping calm with a positive attitude could be very good in keeping eczema (and its symptoms) manageable.

Emotional support

Skin diseases like eczema may dampen a person’s enthusiasm for life. Doctors had long noted that persons with atopic dermatitis most of the time possess such low self-esteem.

The top reason is that their skin disease is visible and that they feel embarrassed and isolated. A support group or a camp created for people living with eczema can help.

In Brazil in 2003, a hospital started a support group for children with atopic dermatitis. In the beginning, the children were insecure and mostly kept to themselves.

After they recognized their similarities, they began interacting with one another. In only about 6 to 8 meetings, doctors noted several improvements.

The children had bonded with their medical staff. They learned more about their illness. When their self-confidence was restored, their symptoms lessened.

These are 3 of the more prominent alternative therapies conducted by researchers to help find ways and methods of helping eczema patients cope and make their lives better.