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The term ‘eczema’ is derived from a Greek work meaning to boil’. It refers to an inflammation of the skin which results in the formation of vesicles or pustules.
It is the most common and most troublesome of all skin diseases.
Eczema is essentially a constitutional disease, resulting from a toxic condition of the system. The disease covers a wide variety of forms, the majority of them being of a chronic variety.
Symptoms of Eczema
Eczema in is acute form is indicated by redness and swelling of the skin, the formation of minute vesicles and severe heat. If the vesicles rupture, a raw, moist surface is formed. From this a colorless discharge oozes, which forms skin crusts when it accumulates. The disease is usually worse at night when the heat of the body is retained by the bed-clothes.
The skin itches at all stages. In the wet stage, it may become infected with bacteria. The healing of the condition is affected by scratching in response to the irritation. Scratching not only spreads infection but also lengthens the stage of dryness and scaling.
Treatment of Eczema
In case of acute eczema, cold compress or cold wet fomentations are beneficial. The affected part should be wrapped with a thick soft cloth. The cloth should be moistened with cold water (55 degree -60 degree F) every 15 to 30 minutes for two hours at a time. The bandage should be left intact, keeping the cloth cold. There may be intensification of itching or pain initially but this will soon subside. A cold compress may be applied twice daily for a week or so
Causes of Eczema
Allergies play an important part in causing eczema. Some women get eczema on their hands due to an allergy to soap or detergents used to wash clothes or dishes. Some persons develop it around the fingers when they wear rings because of allergy to metals.
Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at San Antonio , in a recent study of children with atrophic eczema, found that 75 percent were allergic to a number of foods. The most common triggers for sensitive persons are eggs, peanuts, chocolate, wheat, cow’s milk, chicken and potato.
The real cause of eczema however is the failure of the human system to excrete the poisons from the various orifices of the body. Waste matter is excreted from the rectum through stools, from the bladder through urine, from the lungs through stools, from the bladder through urine, from the lungs through breath and from the pores of the skin through sweat.
Sometimes the pores of the skin are overworked as waste matter is not properly eliminated from the other orifices. If the pores are not given the chance to perform their normal function, the sweet will be full of morbid matter and this gives rise to skin diseases like eczema, acne, boils, and other eruptions.
Other causes include faulty metabolism, constipation, nutritional deficiencies and stress brought about by nagging spouses, jealously, frustration and a host of other emotions. Suppressive drug treatment of a formed disease is also a most potent subsidiary causative factor in many cases.
Cure of Eczema
Skin applications to cure eczema may give temporary relief. If the exudation is suppressed, some other more serious disease may develop. The best way to deal with eczema is to cleanse the bloodstream and the body.
The treatment should start with a fast on orange juice and water from five to 10 days, depending on the severity and duration of the trouble. Juice fasting will help eliminate toxic waste from the body an lead to substantial improvement. In some cases, the condition may worsen in the beginning of the fast due to the increased elimination of waste matter through the skin. But as fasting continues, improvement will manifest itself.
Fruits, salt-free, raw or steamed vegetables with whole meal bread or chapattis may be taken after juice fast. Carrot and must melon are particularly beneficial. Coconut oil may be used instead of ghee. After a few days, curd and milk may be added to the diet. The patients may thereafter gradually embark upon a well-balanced diet of three basic food groups, namely (i) seeds, nuts and grains, (i) vegetables and (iii) fruits. The large proportion of the diet should consist of raw foods.
Seeds and beans such as alfalfa, mung and soybeans a be sprouted. This diet may be supplemented with cold-pressed vegetables oils, honey and yeast. Juice fasting may be repeated at intervals of two months or so, depending on the progress being made. In chronic and more difficult cases of eczema, the patient should fast at least once a week till he is cured.
The patient should avoid tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages and all condiments and highly flavored dishes. He should also avoid sugar, white flour products, denaturated cereals like polished rice and pearled barely and tinned or bottled foods. He should eat only pure and wholesome foods.
Raw vegetable juices, especially carrot juice in combination with spinach juice, have proved highly beneficial in the treatment of eczema. The formula proportions considered helpful in this combination are carrot 300 ml. and spinach 200 ml. to make 500 ml. or half a litre of juice.
The patient should get as much fresh air as possible. Restrictive clothing should not be worn. Two or three litres of water should be taken daily and the patient must bathe twice or thrice a day. The skin, with the exception of the parts affected with eczema, should be vigorously rubbed with the palms of the hands before the taking a bath.
Coconut oil may be applied to the portions with eczema. It will help the skin to stay soft. Walking or jogging should be resorted to in order to activate the bowels. Sunbathing is also beneficial as it kills the harmful bacteria and should be resorted to early in the morning, in the first light of dawn. A light mudpack applied over the sites of the eczema is also helpful. The pack should be applied for an hour at a time and should be repeated twice or thrice a day.
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