How To Get Rid Of Eczema On The Face

Hi. My name is Dr. Jenny Wakerly.

I am a GP working in NHS and I specialize in dermatology. I am here today to talk to you about how to get rid of eczema. Unfortunately, you can not cure it one hundred percent because it is a chronic condition.

However, the aim is to reduce the amount of flareups so that it does not really affect your daily living and so that it does not make you self-conscious. The reason why you have eczema is because you have dry skin and that causes minute cracks in the skin and that causes the allergic type of reaction or inflammation. It causes the flareups to occur.

It can depend on different people: what makes the flareups occur. Things like certain foods, dust mites, dryness, excessive heat, excessive cold, any physical or mental stress, all can cause a flareup. It really depends on the individual.

The main thing, basically, is to use an emollient, a really rich moisturizer. Probably the best is Boot's own Aqueous Cream. Use a big tub of it to wash with and to moisturize with.

The reason I mentioned that particular brand is because it is lanolin free. Very, very rarely, some people with eczema are allergic to lanolin, which is found in wool. That is why you might find that if you buy other moisturizers, you react quite a lot to it, because of the lanolin in it.

That is the safest cream to use. The other cream, especially if you are starting to get a bit older and a bit more aware of fine lines and wrinkles, is aloe vera moisturizing lotion made by Forever Living. It also has got collagen in it as well for anti-aging and it is lanolin-free as well.

That works very well. When you have got a flareup, you do need to use steroids. Probably, a mild to moderate steroid depending on where it is.

If you have got flareups around the eyes, probably the strongest is hydrocortisone which you can use. I do recommend when you do have a flareup, that you go to your GP to make sure that you have got the right steroid and that you are using it in the correct way. Also, to prevent the flareups, you need to look at what makes them occur and to minimize that effect.

For example, not have the central heating on too high or have the house too dry if that makes the skin dry often, causing you to have a flareup. I hope this helps a little bit in treating your eczema and thank you very much for watching.