What are your best home remedies for calming eczema?

I would suggest seeing a dermatologist, who can prescribe stronger ointments to ease your flare-ups. I have psoriasis (which started out as eczema) and I use a prescription antihistamine cream as well as some stronger-than-over-the-counter stuff like Olux and a Vitamin D ointment whose name I currently cannot remember.

One thing that will help for sure is to apply a petroleum-based lotion to your eczema flare-up spot within 3 minutes of getting out of the bath/shower. This helps create a moisture barrier after bathing to minimize skin moisture loss.

Edit: Totally forgot, but it will also help if you take warm, rather than hot, baths and showers, as it’s less drying to your skin.

My Dad had it on his legs and used Capsaicin (chili pepper extract), but that is not considered a product for use on the face.

Have you considered ice cold lemon juice? You dermatologist will be able to prescribe the best product for you.

My dad used Avon’s Skin so Soft. bath oil. it was the only thing he found that would help him.

lemon, maybe Vaseline, coconut oil, sun bathing, and a better diet
But you should really see a dermatologist. Only prescription ointments ever worked for me.
I use Ziana (clindamycin phosphate 1.2% and tretinoin 0.025%) Gel for my eyelids (top and bottom), and Clobetasol Propionate Ointment USP 0.05%

I’ve had eczema since i was a baby so I feel for ya! I have tried every mild soap, moisturizer, cream, ointment, prescription steroid cream that’s sold.

First off, I’ve heard from many other people – and it has been my own personal experience – that while there is no cure for it, many people kind of just ‘grow out of it’. I used to get really bad flare ups on my inner arms and behind my knees and once I started going to college it just cleared up and has never been that bad since.

Second, a warning on dermatologists. Most are quick to start prescribing stuff. If you are really suffering, this may be a good option to quickly get it under control. But eventually, you’ll either want to find a more holistic derm that isn’t in bed with Big Pharma or track your outbreaks to try to nail down triggers.

Personally, I have noticed that stress, being very hot and sweaty, a diet high in sugars, spending extensive time in air conditioning (because of dry air), moving back and forth between cold and hot environments (e.g. sitting in air conditioned space at 72 deg F then going outside to 85 deg F, and alternating back and forth), and the fall-winter season (because of dry air) seem to be triggers. I’ve met other people w/ eczema that agree. Also when I was extremely fit (working out pretty rigorously every day), eczema completely vanished from my life for the first time ever and it wasn’t until I got a sedentary full time ‘real world’ job that it started to flare up again (A/C + stress + poor eating + no exercise = trouble). Exercising relaxes me so that may be part of it, and perhaps good blood circulation and drinking lots of water helps, too. Getting a little sun daily also seems to help me. Playing tennis always makes me itch, but not water sports like canoe paddling, surfing, swimming (although the chlorine might be too drying).

Oils, lotions, creams, and powders didn’t ever offer me much relief. You might try icing it to kill the itch. It cannot get worse if you don’t scratch so the trick is finding a way to avoid this – I know, much easier said than done!

Steroid creams (by prescription only) did usually work, but they thin your skin w/ prolonged use, I think they make you more susceptible to sunburn, and I would want to avoid using it on my face…

Eczema quite often goes hand in hand with allergies and asthma, although I don’t have the latter. I am allergic to dust and dander and strong fragrance. I would recommend not using anything that is scented. Always buy fragrance free. Also consider laundry detergent – Tide, All, these things are extremely harsh and strongly fragranced. Avoid it. I buy Country Save laundry det. and it doesn’t smell like anything. Avoid perfumes, again anything that is fragranced, scented, perfumated. Anything that smells! Try getting an air purifier for your room and/or house that will suck up dust, and vacuum or de-dust regularly.

I have heard that there is a test you can do to determine what you are allergic to, and it involves simply exposing patches of skins to various known allergens and observing what triggers a reaction. No one appears to offer this where I am, but they may where you live. Maybe you can call around and see. Knowing what you’re allergic to would probably save you from a lifetime of unpredictable misery.

If the eczema is around your mouth, consider what kind of toothpaste and or mouthwash you’re using and see if switching to a different formula makes a difference. Toothpaste is drying as is Listerine or any mouthwash with alcohol in it, and it may be a trigger or may be making it worse. Also certain foods might be exacerbating the problem. For example, the perimeter of my mouth used to get super itchy when I ate shoyu eggplant.

Doctors often recommend oatmeal baths to people suffering from eczema as relief. You could try mixing oatmeal with honey (moisturizing, supposedly) and applying to affected area like a face mask and see if that helps.

Also, a note on ‘natural’ products. Not all products sold at health food stores are created equal. I find that some of them, despite having extremely mild/not harsh ingredients, make me itchy. I’m betting chemistry explains the phenomenon, but nobody has been able to give me a decent answer yet. There is a kids shampoo made by Gabriel (you can google it) that I really like. I’ve just been using basic glycerin soap…

I basically got rid of it by growing out of it, although I will reiterate that regular exercise, eating healthy (lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, very little processed foods, no junk food), managing stress, and having an outdoors lifestyle seem to have really helped. Indoor air quality is usually to be pretty bad compared to outdoors (I designed HVAC for a living) so the less time you spend indoors the better…unless maybe you live in LA…

It sucks to have eczema but don’t be depressed. Even with the ugly itchy patches, I still got asked to a ton of proms and had boys following me around everywhere. It is not the end of the world, and with any luck you will grow out of it soon.

First let me say, I am always so sorry to see people suffer from this. My daughter has had it bad for years. She is 25 and finally getting over it. She has lots of allergies one being nickel.
Do you know what allergies you have? If you do than look into all the things that contain the very things that make you react.
First thing I learned with my daughter is the eczema you get in yoru face isn’t the same as the one you get on your arms. The one on your face is more from contact. You touch something an then touch your face. Or some air born allergen touched your face.
The one on your arm is more from a reaction within your body. If you have it real bad and steroids are not helping and its oozing a lot then antibiotics may be needed because it may be infected.
As for washing those areas. A quick cool bath (Never hot) will help a little with the inflammation. Follow that with cleansing the area with Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser.
Always make sure your hands are clean before starting. You rub that on gently and then wipe with a clean towel or paper towel (Viva is really soft). Then to add a little more softness to the skin, Use the cetaphil lotion. Most every other lotion has aloe in it and many people are allergic to it and it can cause you to itch.
As lilkoi mentioned, perfumes or colognes can also cause you to react. Mostly its because of several things in it but most have alchohol and that dries your skin.
With my daughter lanolin in most products also made her break out. Cetephil lotion is what her dermatologist suggested and it was the only products that didn’t make her skin burn or itch.
Also when bathing, use dove soap. Its not actually a soap but it works as well as one.
Real soap will be too harsh and many have some of the ingredients I listed and may cause a reaction.
Vasaline is something she would us above her lip but she hated it. Vasaline will give you some relief from feeling dry but it doesn’t let the skin breathe and repair so well.
To bring down the swelling on her eyes we would use eyedrops to rinse her eyes and then get two cotton balls and put witch hazel on it and let it rest on her eyelids. Make sure your eyes are shut.
It may sting at first but that is because the skin is dry and sensitive. Let it sit about 10 to 15 minutes to bring down the swelling. If this doesn’t help than try ice but don’t do that for too long because it will really dry your skin.
After that wash with the cetaphil cleanser and then apply the cetaphin lotion.
If you apply anything to your face during the day remember to clean your hands and clean your face and then apply lotion. You don’t want to just trap allergens or dirt under the lotion.
For your arm do the same and we have found if she does all the things listed as soon as she has the first sign of a reaction that she can usually avoid a huge out break.
Also keep in mind that stress is a huge factor in your allergic reaction. The more stress my daughter got over the outbreak the worse she got.

@Pandora My daughter has eczema and asthma. She had a patch test and found out she was allergic to lanolin – contained in most of the creams she had been prescribed. She was also allergic to nickel, so we had to buy her some titanium spectacles.
It’s really awful seeing your children suffer isn’t it? Like your daughter, my daughter is in her twenties, and while it hasn’t gone away, she knows how to deal with it.

@mayratapia_ If you do have a nickel allergy and you are breaking out around your eyes, and you wear glasses, it probably isn’t nickel free. To be one hundred percent sure buy glasses with plastic frames. Titanium glasses are sometimes listed as being nickel free and may still contain some nickel. Only because it is such a low amount it can be listed as nickel free. However nickel builds up in your system and the smallest amount can create a reaction.

@lilikoi I have gotten a patch test as well as an allergies test. I’m allergic to fragrances, & currently try as much as possible to use fragrance free products. Also I have tried topical creams my doctor recommended although they didn’t work out so great especially cause I couldn’t put it on my face, like you said it thins your skin. BTW, my dermatologist gave up on me. @Pandora, I don’t wear glasses.

One more thing. Try a zinc ointment that has no lanolin. Zinc helps the skin to heal faster. My daughter would also take zinc vitamins to help from the inside out. Just try it when you are breaking out. And don’t go over the daily recommended dose.
You may want to also look and make sure you are using detergent on your clothes that don’t have any perfumes or dyes. And dry in the dryer with no fabric sheets or wash in any fabric softener.
If you get it on the scalp, also try, DHS zinc shampoo. A friend recommened it and my daughters scalp is the healthiest it has been in years. It is a zinc shampoo. Good luck I hope it all works out.

Have you been tested for food allergies?
Have you tried using a natural/organic body butter-lotion. Most store-bought lotions are loaded with skin irritants. There’s a good informative book “Beauty to Die For” if you want to know about the chemicals/toxins in the beauty industry. I own it-it’s helped me.

@OneMoreMinute, I’ve been tested for bananas, which I LOVE (I would have been devestated if I found out that that was the problem),&the only “lotion” I could use &still use is Vaseline. I’ll look into that book.

Vaseline is a petroleum product that acts like saran wrap on the skin. It’s great for babies in diapers to prevent the rash from the acidic moisture. So if Vaseline is what works for you, I wonder what is in your environment that it’s protecting from your skin? maybe?
As for a skin moisturizer, have you ever just rubbed on pure food-grade coconut oil? And olive oil too. Forget about those brand named lotions, they might even be the problem.

Oh, and, you have been tested for bananas?
Are you?

…..lol…....just kidding…..my funny bone has a demon that acts up on occasion!
( hope I don’t get kicked out…i just joined…)

@OneMoreMinute, I love a person with great sarcasm(: I myself do the same, maybe my outlet from depression? IDK. &as of Vasaline, sometimes it feels like it’s just not letting my skin breathe &anything else I’d be scared to use:| Let’s say I have extremely delicate baby skin, would the natural oils harm my skin or cause a flare-up?

After decades of sensitive skin problems were solved when I realized my skin was communicating to me that what I was putting on my skin was hurting it. I changed to natural lines. I have used “Miracle 2” soap for bathing and “Organix” natural coconut oil body lotions for moisturizing. Ever since I switched, I have never had any skin problems. Six years ago. And I switched to unscented laundry soap. I absolutely CAN’T use commercial products, especially shampoos and conditioners-itchy scalp!!!
Then I learned from that book about many harsh and irritating chemicals in commercial brands.
I don’t sell anything, is it ok to list brands that I personally use? I only joined a few hours ago. I have not read everything on here yet…learning as I go…..

I’ll keep it short.
I’ve struggled with serious Eczema my whole life and truly feel your pain.

First- To get it under control use aloe Vera (the plant) just break of the limbs and rub the liquid over the wounds or get the just aloe Vera oil at the store.

Second- (Being the Eczema is on the face it may be difficult) Bath or shower twice a day and just let the water soak into the effected area.

Third- This is the hardest, once it is under control, just resist the urge to itch!

@OneMoreMinute, I’m not sure, I don’t think you get flagged for that. I have just applied coconut oil to my face &feel absolutly nothing, is this working? IDK, but it’s not burning. Is eating it also an option?

@TehRoflMobile, I’m allergic to products that contain Aloe Vera, is this plant going to do the same damage?

Yeesh, I wouldn’t risk it. My best advice is to like I said, bath and shower frequently and use some kind of moisturizer after each shower.

If it really, truly is compromising life I would see a skin doctor, and let them diagnose your eczema and give you some subscriptions. I was blessed enough to live in the vicinity of National Jewish Hospital wish is the US’s best skin hospitals.

They just told me what I told you, and they gave a prescription for a good moisturizer you can get at Safeway or Kingsoopers.

As long as you have a food grade 100% coconut oil, you can eat it and apply on skin for moisturizing. (unless you’re allergic to coconut too)
I use Miracle 2 soap and moisturizer without any complaints or problems from my skin at all.
I gave away ALL of my commercial body products because they all irritated my skin.
that is all I know to share for you.

Spray water with tea tree oil. Believe it or not, I buy a relatively inexpensive one from Pets Mart that also has some sort of oat extract but the active ingredient is that tea tree oil that is smelly but takes the itch off and inflamation down.