Eczema On Your Hands – Is There Anything Worse?

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

This all started over on Twitter with a discussion between a few people and then a message from someone as to what can be done about Eczema on your hands.

I can't think of a worse place to have eczema, and this is was what the discussion was mostly about, where was worse. A lot of people thought face, as face tends to be the most prominent but I still reckon hands, as they are the worst place to try and heal as they are constantly being open and closed and they are in and out of everything, all day.

Eczema on the hands is embarrassing, itchy and just plain painful as you can see from below..

hand-eczema

Not very nice, and if you suffer from it yourself, then you know exactly what I mean.

So, What Can You Do About Your Hand Eczema?

The first thing you need to do is remove the triggers, as anything you do to treat your hand eczema, in fact any eczema, will not work unless you can remove the underlying triggers. The triggers for hand eczema seem to follow the general triggers but also tend to be exaggerated as your hands are used more than any other part of the body and tend to end up in all the nasty stuff, so I thought I would put together a few tips to help manage the eczema on your hands.

Chemicals

This is a big one with hands as they are always into everything, dishes, laundry, washing the kids/dog/home. So you need to be really thorough here and really dig down for everything your hands touch. Dishes and laundry you can replace with more natural products such as the miracle wash laundry balls for your laundry and the eco store products for the kitchen and always make sure you use gloves, just look for latex free gloves or wear cotton one's under your rubber gloves.

Make sure you also eliminate any chemicals from you and your kids washing routines, watch out for SLS's and artificial fragrances, this also goes for those nice little liquid hand soaps you have around the house - get rid of them. There are plenty of replacements available at your local health food store (or stay tuned for ours in early 2010).

Cleaning around the home is another big one, that stuff is TOXIC! Get rid of the really powerful chemical cleaners and look for more natural alternatives, there are plenty out there and make sure you use gloves.

I know a lot of these sound common sense, but you would be amazed at how many people just don't do them. As I must have said 1,000 times over the years, managing your eczema isn't rocket science or "secret", it is just doing simple things repeatedly.

Stress

This is a big one. Stress is one of the bigger triggers for eczema there is. It also tends to be a never ending circle as often we find, people are stressing about the way their hands look or the fact that nothing is working for them. I know it is hard, but stop it! If you persist at the right things, you will get them under control. So try to relax.

Diet

I have spoken at length about eczema diet throughout the site, there is plenty around about it like this book here. The simplest thing I can tell you though, is simplify. Remember how your mother used to cook for you, meat and 3 veg? Well, you don't have to go back to that but you know what I mean. Stop using packet rubbish and start making real food. It isn't that hard. A good everyday supplement will also help you get everything we lack in our diets nowadays.

Moisturise

This is probably the easiest thing you can do with your eczema. Moisturise, moisturise, moisturise and ten, do it some more. I can't emphasise this enough. Don't let your hands dry out. 4 - 6 times per day when they are bad is not excessive. You want to look for a good natural moisturiser, free of petroleum based products like paraffins, preferably one especially formulated for eczema. Things like lavender and chamomile will help calm the itch and then look for things like aloe vera, olive oil, vitamin A and E to help heal the skin from within.

Hope that helps.