How to heal your eczema with Naturopathic Medicine?
by Dr. Savannah Bukant, your Kirkland Naturopathic Doctor
If you’ve suffered from eczema, you can probably relate to a patient who recently sat in my office:
She was wearing long sleeves despite the summer heat—embarrassed to show her skin. She felt guilty and frustrated for her inability to be fully present with her baby due to the near-constant pain and itching.
She’d seen multiple specialists, like allergists and dermatologists, who prescribed all kinds of topical and anti-inflammatory medications, but didn’t experience any relief. She’d seen a bit of improvement with a diet change after visiting with a dietician, but that improvement didn’t last.
This patient showed up at my office looking for alternative ideas, open to a Naturopathic medicine approach, and simply wanting relief. So we talked abou itt…what causes eczema, anyway? Where do we go from here?
What is eczema?
Eczema, also known as Atopic Dermatitis, affects about 30 million Americans or roughly 10% of the population. Despite more commonly impacting children, eczema can persist into adulthood or reappear later in life.
Eczema is a chronic skin condition marked by itching, dryness, inflammation, and at times wounds and infections. It’s found often on the inner elbows and knees, hands, feet, face, and neck.
Eczema is neither contagious nor life-threatening but at times can become a severe and complex illness. Moderate to severe eczema can take an enormous toll on a person’s quality of life and daily activities. The itching can disrupt sleep, distract from important tasks, and contribute to daily discomfort that makes it hard to focus on what’s important, not to mention the time, energy, and resources required to pursue medical care. Like my patient in the story above, many people with marked symptoms are forced to alter what they wear and how they go about their day to cope with their symptoms.
What causes eczema?
Eczema is caused by a combination of genetics, environmental exposures, and lifestyle factors. Some individuals are genetically prone to what is called “atopic” disease—health conditions with an allergic cause including asthma, food allergies, hay fever, and eczema. People with this predisposition to atopic disease can develop an exaggerated IgE (antibody) response to substances that are otherwise harmless, such as pollen or fragrance.
The genetic predisposition along with life exposures (like stress, trauma, chemical, illnesses) can create the “perfect storm” where the immune system creates an over-reactive immune response.
Eczema and detoxification
Many people experience a flare in symptoms when they come into contact with certain exposures, such as:
allergens, pollen, and dust mites
mold and other biotoxins
irritants and chemicals such as pollution or wildfire smoke
personal care products including soaps, perfumes, and laundry detergents
heat or temperature changes
food allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances
Your skin is your largest organ of detoxification (the others are lungs, kidney, liver, and bowels). When your detoxification pathways are slow or backed up, your skin may reflect this from the inside out. In Naturopathic medicine, we love to point out the gut-skin connection. Whatever is unresolved in the gut can be discharged and revealed through our skin.
If you live in a water-damaged building with mold, bacterial endotoxins, and actinomycetes growing, your skin rashes may be a symptom of mold illness.
If you have another exposure such as chemical in your water, or poor air quality living next to a highway, or toxic pesticides living behind a farm…your skin may be revealing that your body’s septic system is backed up and needing support.
The Gut-Skin Connection
In Naturopathic Medicine we recognize the intimate connection between the digestive system and our skin. How are the two connected? In a couple of ways:
Your gut and your skin are both organs of elimination.
Think of your body like a bucket. Your bucket fills with anything and everything that causes inflammation—stress, trauma, pollution, toxic metals, mold exposure, food intolerances, lack of sleep, the list goes on. Your bucket has a spout at the bottom, releasing toxicity and inflammation through your pathways of elimination. If your bucket is filling fasting than your body can empty it, then the bucket overflows. The overflow is what causes symptoms.
If the detoxification pathways in your digestive system can’t keep up with the toxicity filling your bucket, your skin—as another organ of detoxification—may express that imbalance.
Your gut and your skin share one immune system
Just because your gut and your skin aren’t physically touching one another doesn’t mean they don’t interact. Your immune system lives largely inside of your gastrointestinal tract. But those same immune system can move into your blood stream and into the layers of your skin. The microbiome in your digestive tract impacts those immune cells, but that impact can be seen throughout your body. Gut health impacts skin health, and vise versa.
A Naturopathic approach to healing eczema almost always involves looking into gut health in some way. Often this involves running a comprehensive stool test to evaluate digestive enzyme levels, inflammatory markers, potential pathogenic yeast and bacteria, parasites, the microbiome, and other markers of gut health.
Understanding eczema from a holistic perspective
Eczema sometimes involves a deeper root cause then just the physical. As a human being, you are not just your body. Your body is inextricably connected with your mind, emotions, energy, and spirit. Symptoms within your physical body can sometimes reflect an imbalances on other levels. Likewise, imbalances within your physical body can manifest as emotional and psychological symptoms.
From an energetic perspective, your skin is your first line of defense and how you meet the world. Your skin separates you from not you. If you struggle with boundaries, self-worth, and knowing your limits, perhaps your skin is revealing this imbalance.
In German New Medicine, skin issues represent the healing of a separation conflict. A separation conflict occurs when you were physically separated from something/someone when you didn’t want to be; or you wanted to be separated and that separation didn’t happen. The eczema in this case indicates the healing process has started, but the conflict is not fully resolved. If this lens peaks your interest, check out this German New Medicine article.
Our physical bodies are excellent communicators, giving us symptoms to show us where and how we are off balance or mistreating ourselves without realizing it. Many skin symptoms, including eczema, tend to flare with stress and lack of sleep—because of how our nervous systems and immune systems are intricately connected.
How can Naturopathic Medicine in Kirkland help heal your eczema?
Naturopathic medicine takes a comprehensive, holistic approach to assessing and treating eczema—often addressing many of the elements discussed above.
First, we’ll look at your health baseline—called your Foundations of Health. Is there anything missing or lacking? These include sleep, clean water, nourishing food, community, time in nature, play, and other basic human needs.
Next, we ask “what are the obstacles to cure?” What is getting in the way of your body doing what it knows how to do—move toward healing? The “obstacles” may include any of these above-mentioned triggers like chemicals, mold, food intolerances, or chronic stress to name a few. Running blood work helps us to determine whether you have deficiencies or excesses that may contribute to slowed detoxification pathways or immune reactivity.
From a homeopathic approach, we’ll look for the homeopathic remedy that beset fits your symptoms. When the right remedy is identified and taken on a daily basis, it will help your body gently move toward healing over time.
On top of the foundations of health and removing the obstacles to healing, we may implement the following therapies depending on your unique symptoms and health:
immune support (multivitamins, herbs, anti-inflammatories)
digestive support (enzymes, probiotics, antimicrobials, gut repair)
stress and adrenal support (adaptogens, minerals, nutritional changes, vagus nerve support, nervous system healing)
liver support (detoxification protocols, herbal formulas)
FAQ
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Healing timelines vary. Some people will notice improvement within a few weeks, and for others the healing process takes longer. It depends on the complexity of root causes.
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Some of the more common triggers include food allergies, environmental allergens, chemical exposures, high stress, and poor sleep.
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Without treatment, eczema can involve lichenification (thicking in your skin), ongoing inflammation, and infection of open wounds. It’s important to avoid scratching, keeping the skin moisturized and covered. See a doctor right away if you’re unsure what to do about your eczema wounds.
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Keep your skin moisturized with a gentle, fragrance-free cream. Applying cream after bathing while your skin is still damp, before your skin dries, can help lock in moisture. This is called the 3 minute rule—pat yourself dry and then apply moisturizer within 3 minutes
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Covering your eczema with moisturizer and a barrier such a a bandaid or clothing can help keep your skin hydrated, less irritated, and relieve the irritation.
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For some people, a cold compress or ice pack will reduce the intensity of the itch. Moisturizing twice daily can lower the irritation. Anti-itch medications, including both topical and oral, can reduce the itch. Avoid scratching and use only gentle cleansers and moisturizers.
Want to try a Naturopathic approach to healing your eczema?
If any of the ideas or approaches in this article resonated with you, reach out to learn more. I would be happy to chat with you about whether this kind of holistic approach might support your healing. Naturopathic medicine has so much to offer, with an endless variety of therapies to explore. As a Kirkland Naturopathic doctor, I love helping patients combine the best of conventional and natural, holistic care for lasting relief in their symptoms. Click the “Start Here” button below to request a free consultation.
Naturopathic doctor servicing Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell, Bellevue, Kenmore, Woodinville, Cottage Lake, and surrounding areas