I have treated many cases of eczema successfully using classical homeopathy. Classical homeopaths, such as myself, use only one homeopathic remedy at a time to treat the whole person. We treat the root cause of the eczema, rather than using topical applications. Natural creams only soothe the eczema, and steroid creams suppress the eczema.
The use of steroid cream, for example, is an example of suppression. Although the steroid cream may temporarily alleviate the eczema, the skin problem will usually come back if the steroid cream is discontinued. Homeopaths believe that the use of steroid creams drives the disturbance/imbalance away from the skin and into the internal organs. A classical example of this is using steroid cream on a young child’s eczema, resulting in the disappearance of the eczema and the appearance of asthma. What happened in this example is that the child’s eczema was suppressed by the steroid cream, driving the disturbance inwards to the lungs.
Chronic cases of eczema can be treated effectively with classical homeopathy. Contact the clinic or a classical homeopath in your area.
Homeopathic remedies help the body heal itself. For some people, especially those who have had eczema for many years, the healing process can be slow. While undergoing homeopathic treatment, there are a number of creams and ointments that can soothe and moisturize itchy, dry and/or cracked skin:
Olive Oil and Coconut Oil
The cheapest and simplest option, though using oils tends to be messier than using a cream. Of the two, I prefer coconut oil, although some of my clients prefer using olive oil. Coconut oil has excellent wound healing abilities – apply it to cracks in the skin and they will heal in no time (if the cracks are deep also apply a bandage over the wound). Another good thing about using oils is that even the most sensitive skin will tolerate them, even a newborn baby’s. Try to use organic, cold-pressed if you can.
Weleda Creams
Completely safe and natural products available in most health food stores and natural pharmacies. This company makes good quality products that smell great. Adults can use “Skin Food,” for dry and rough skin. They have a number of good products for babies. My favourite is “Calendula Baby Cream.” Other options for childhood eczema are “Calendula Diaper Care,” “Calendula Lotion,” and “Calendula Oil.” These products aren’t cheap but I think they’re worth their price tag.
Rescue Cream
Many people are familiar with Bach’s Rescue Remedy. It is also available as a topical cream. I have found this cream to be very effective in alleviating intense itching. The only problem is the price tag. If you are on a budget, you could buy the regular Rescue Remedy tincture, a base cream, and make your own Rescue Cream.
Calendula Cream
You can buy plain calendula cream if you don’t want to spend your money on the high-priced Weleda brand, though you will sacrifice attractiveness and quality. Calendula cream will soothe dry skin and hasten wound healing. Personally, I haven’t found it to be any more effective than applying plain coconut oil. Common brands sold in Canada include Thompson’s, Boiron, Nelsons, and Homeocan.
Ingredients to Avoid
Always look at the list of ingredients! Many companies claim that their products are completely natural, but their ingredients are actually harmful. Be on the lookout for these ingredients:
Parabens: can disrupt your endocrine (hormonal) system
Propylene Glycol: a known carcinogen and skin irritant. Linked to kidney and liver problems.
Mineral Oil, Paraffin, and Petrolatum: comes from crude oil and does not allow the skin to breathe
Phenol Carbolic Acid: Can cause circulatory collapse, paralysis, convulsions, coma, and even death.
Toluene: Chronic exposure linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, liver or kidney damage.
For a more detailed discussion of problematic skincare ingredients, go to Dr. Mercola’s site: http://www.mercolahealthyskin.com/organic-skin-care.aspx
57 thoughts on “Natural Eczema Creams and Treatments: A Review”
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Hello there, just found this post. I would love your opinion on my case. I suddenly developed eczema in January of 2014. At first it was just on my 2 fingers on my left hand and then it spread to the palm of my left hand. I used low dose steroid cream off and on for a month or two and it didn’t really seem to help. And I tried to ignore it for awhile and then it got so bad that it spread to all my fingers on my left hand, a few spots on the top of my left hand and then to my right fingers. About this time I contacted a homeopath. I have been on a remedy for almost a month. She uses liquid form. After taking just one drop my hands had a horrible flare up ( a full dose is 6 drops, she advised me to start with one and increase every few days). I continued to take the one drop per day, then took a few days off and then moved up to two drops. In this time the flare up continued for about a week and a half and then I went on vacation and they got better for a few days. Then I moved to 3 drops and two days later boom! an explosion of eczema worse than I have had before. And the patches on my hands continued to grow and then spread to both wrists and now 1/3 of the way down my arms. She advised I take a few days off of the remedy altogether and after 5 days I took a very diluted dose of one drop yesterday. And starting 2 days ago my neck began to show signs of redness, and today it is covered in intensely itchy eczema. And my hands are starting another bumpy, blistery, wet break out today. They haven’t recovered from the last one yet. My question to you-does this sound like moving in the right direction? I just continue to get worse and it continues to spread. It has been 4 weeks since starting the remedy. I know there are healing crisis but this seems to just get worse with no end in sight. My family is starting to think I am crazy for not just going to a dermatologist and getting a high dose steroid cream that would take care of this. I am in misery-itching and pain and my hands look unsightly. I am starting to feel crazy for undergoing this as well!!!! Thanks for your input!
This is really hard to say. I do believe that you’ve been overdosing on the remedy from what you described. It may well be the wrong remedy altogether but that’s hard to say given that it could just be an overdose which is causing this.
I feel like homeopathy can still help you, but the right method of dosing needs to be used, not automatic dosing the way you described, but continuous adjustment of dosage based on your response.
Thanks for your prompt replay. What I find confounding about this is I thought Homeopathy was gentle, had no side effects and the wrong remedy would do nothing-good or bad?
In general that is true, but I do find that people with skin problems and/or allergies are very sensitive and one needs to tread very carefully with the remedy (start with a low potency, adjust repetition often and don’t repeat often) otherwise flareups can and will occur. Flareups are not harmful per se because it’s just the body trying to heal itself but it is very uncomfortable for the client.
Hello, my 4 years old daughter has eczema since she was infant. We were prescribed topical steroids creams by dermatologist. Now couple of months back we decided to stop using steroids creams when we came to know about their side effects. It’s been 7 weeks now we haven’t applied steroids cream on our daughter. We consulted homeopath 3 weeks ago. She gave 3 remedies morgan pure, psor & nux com 30 c each. I’m using coconut oil to moisturise her skin and Dead Sea salt for a bath. I would like to know if all the remedies are correct as we can’t see much improvement in her eczema.
Sorry to hear about your daughter. I cannot recommend any treatments without doing a proper consultation. Treatments are individual with homeopathy. All the best to you and your family.
Hello sir.
Im suffering from eczema from last 5 month
first 2 month i have taken ayurvedic treatment, but that was not effective.
after that i started taking homeopathic traetment. but still i havent got expected result. doctor told me not to use any lotion or cream as it supresses it.
i want your guidence regarding the diet. & shall i use any cream or lotion so that it will be cured as soon as possible
In my experience, creams and lotions, as well as coconut oil, are fine to use along with homeopathic treatment, while waiting for homeopathic treatment to take full effect.
The homeopathic remedy is the key to getting the eczema better. It may also help to cut out dairy and possibly gluten. Please follow the guidance of your doctor, as I am not familiar with your case.
Thank you for an interesting article. My question is now, since I have very good experience of bach flower remedies and would like to include the rescue drops in a home made balm. Which proportions do you recommend?
With a regular sized jar of base cream, you really only need a few drops of rescue remedy, otherwise you risk the cream being too watery.
Thank you. Another question. How sensitive to heat are the healing propensities of the flower remedies? Some creams need to be heated while produced. But of course I assume one can add the drops sometime during the cooling phase.
Homeopathic remedies are sensitive to heat, so yes, best to add during the cooling phase.
thank you for the valuable information, natural eczema creams are the best
I used to be recommended this blog by way of my cousin. I am not certain whether this submit is written by him as no one else understand such detailed about my problem. You’re amazing! Thanks!
Hi!
I am currently seeing a homeopath who has prescribed me arsenic. I have been taking this for about 2 weeks now, and have nearly finished the medication.
Im 22, havent really suffered from skin problems before this, play sports and am otherwise quite healthy (IBS from travelling) which I believe was set off from a bout of scabies approximately 7 months ago.
Before this I was using steroid cream (betnovate) and hydrocortisone on my face. Since starting the medication I have not used any steroid cream, and have been suffering greatly for the last 2 weeks, not being able to sleep due to scratching and my skin is very flaky, especially on my face and scalp where it is particularly embarrassing. Outbreaks all over my body.
My question is am I likely to see any improvements soon, and can you recommend any creams to prevent the flaky-ness and itch? Particularly for my face and scalp where it seems like it snows all day 🙁 its also very sore around my mouth. i have stubble to hide the poor skin and because shaving i presume will aggravate the condition.
thanks very much for your time!
sorry, I mean that I believe the eczema was bad very bad from scabies that I had around 7 months ago. thats not very clear!
Hello Timothy
Sound like you’re going through a healing reaction, which is uncomfortable but altogether healthy and positive. I advise you to contact your homeopath who may be able to put you on a gentler dose of your medication, which would bring down the flaking/itching to a tolerable level.
Cheers
Sonya
Hello Doctor,
I have been undergoing treatment for eczema since 3 months. I have been told that the homeopathic treatment first aggravates the disease and in that form it throws away the toxins from inside out. I have complete faith in the doctor who is attending to me. My question is what is the typical time period which we can expect the disease to get cured atlest the lesions and oozing of liquid to stop. I know the marks it will take some time to leave your body but the time it takes to atleast stop the liquid to ooze and itching end.
Responses to homeopathy are always individual. Length of treatment time can depend on age, whether one has used steroid creams or other suppressive treatments, as well as the length of time one has had the complaint. I encourage you to keep hanging in a little while longer, it will pay off.
thanks for this information :)! I used honey and oatmeal to help with my Dyshidrotic Eczema – I was wary of lots of Eczema Cream containing harmful ingredients that you listed above :S
have you heard of tamu oil and do you recommend it for eczema? i have stress breakouts on my face.
No, but I just looked it up and I think it would work as well as coconut oil or olive oil, experiment and see what works for you.
Could not agree more…Your website is actually very nice and informative. I found the ingredients to avoid part very useful. Most of which i had no idea about.
I like your website! I am going to link to it on mine and also share this article with a close friend that suffers from eczema. I am very interested in homeopathic remedies and try to refer to them at times on my own site. I found this when I was searching for information on coconut oil.
A tip to try that I read in one of my books is to put the oil in a spray bottle and spray it on immediately after showering so it’s not as messy and requires less rubbing in. Thanks for the info, I will look forward to reading more on your site. 🙂
Thanks for your comment Kristi and for linking to my site. Coconut oil is great, isn’t it? Cheers.
hi,
Thank you. My daughter has food allergies – though we have stopped all the foods that she is allergic to – her skin is still very itchy. She has indoor and outdoor allergies – dust mite – we have air purifier and dust mite covers but still her skin seems to bother her. She gets wheezing depending on the environment and her activities. We are not able to find out what causes her skin to itch. Any comments on that.
Thanks.
Hello again. In my experience giving the right homeopathic remedy with the right dose and repetition will help allergies tremendously. That being said, while healing is taking place, it is wise to avoid the allergen until the body has been strengthened enough by the homeopathic remedy. There may be no direct relation between the allergies and her skin. The skin complaint could just be an inherited tendency. Everybody has their weaknesses and this skin complaint, along with the allergies and wheezing, are what your daughter is most susceptible to. Like I said before the key is to strengthen your daughter so that she no longer gets these symptoms by giving her the right dosage of the indicated homeopathic remedy.
hi
Thank you so much for your reply. We are consulting a homeopathic doctor for the past one year – the doctor asked us to give all the food – but when we did so she immediately started to cough and then wheeze so we stopped trying new foods. Our main concern was skin as the itchy skin was bothering her a lot – sleepless nights for the past 1 1/2 yrs. The skin seems to improve halfway thro the process but now it is bad. A naturopathic doctor suggested that immunotheraphy using homeopathy helps to deal with environmental allergies. My concern is – are we headed in the right direction – does homeo take so long to heal – does immunotheraphy help.
Thanks.
So hard to say since I don’t know your child’s case. I have personally treated skin complaints successfully with only homeopathy, I don’t know much about immunotherapy so can’t give you much advice about it. Usually kids respond faster to homeopathy, however, if the child has many health complaints or a severe skin complaint it could take longer.
hi,
my daughter has lot of food allergies, eczema and wheezing. we are trying homeopathy medicine for the past one year. we have not yet tried new food – her skin is very itchy especially during the night – her skin did improve after homeo med but did not heal completely. how long does it take to heal.
thanks.
Hello Naveena
Sorry to hear about your daughter 🙁 Are you consulting with a classical homeopath or self prescribing, because I find that self prescribing is not effective when dealing with chronic health complaints, it’s best to consult with a professional. Also in these cases we expect all other complaints such as the wheezing to heal before the skin heals as healing always takes place from the inside out.