LET'S TALK ABOUT ECZEMA(part 2): WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ECZEMA

What Is Eczema?

Eczema refers to an acute or chronic inflammation of the skin, characterized by redness, itching, and the outbreak of oozing vesicular lesions which become encrusted and scaly.
It is non-contagious (😢 sadly most people will tend to get scared of sitting or being around someone who suffers from eczema or other non-contagious skin problems  😭😭).
Eczema in most cases, leads to excessive dryness and as a result, the skin needs major moisturizing.
The word “eczema” is derived from a Greek word meaning “to boil over,” which is a befitting description for the red, inflamed, itchy patches that occur during flare-ups. Eczema can range from mild, moderate, to severe.
More often than not, eczema goes away as a child grows older, though some children will continue to experience eczema into adulthood.
Adults can develop eczema, too, even if they never had it in their childhood.

What Causes Eczema?

Eczema can be triggered by genetics, that is, existing eczema history in a family or by environmental conditions. At times it's a cocktail of the two.
If a person or people in your family are having eczema, you are more prone to acquiring it.
I remember right after the diagnosis while in first year, we had a chat with my mommy and she told me that while in college, she also experienced the same. That wasn't the end, well,  her grandma too had skin issues. That's when it hit me that the genetics had a role to play. 
Since I was a kid, my skin had been the "dry-type". Up to date, I can't risk not applying a moisturiser immediately after a shower (unlike most people) because my skin gets rather itchy.

What to look for:

✔️Dry, sensitive skin
✔️Red, inflamed/swollen skin
✔️Very bad itching
✔️Dark colored patches of skin
✔️Rough, leathery or scaly patches of skin
✔️Oozing or crusting
✔Flaring scalp

Most of the time, children who are allergic to the protein in cow's milk, are thought to be suffering from eczema.
You might have experienced all of the above symptoms of eczema or only just a few. You might have some flare ups or your symptoms could go away entirely. But the only sure way to know if you have eczema, is to visit a dermatologist so that he/she can examine your skin and confirm that indeed it's eczema.

Triggers

Eczema can be triggered by certain different things. However, the triggers are quite personalised. What triggers my eczema might or might not trigger someone else's eczema.
The most common triggers include :

⏩ Stress/Anxiety
⏩ Cold weather/ Winter
⏩ Pollen, hay
⏩ Certain fabrics
⏩ Foods eg fish, shellfish, eggs, milk, nuts,
⏩ Harsh chemicals in detergents/soaps

For me, the cold weather happens to be my worst trigger, my skin flares up badly (it did last week) , pollen and most soaps.

Managing Eczema

For most types of eczema, managing the condition boils down to the following basics :
✅Know your triggers so that you can avoid exposure.
✅Implement a daily bathing and moisturizing routine.
✅Use prescription medication consistently and as prescribed by a dermatologist.

With a dry skin, Hydration is key. In my second and partly third year of campus, I used to carry this bluish, 1.5 litres water bottle to school. Everyday. I would refill it at lunch time, so approximately I took about 2 litres of water in a day!! The bottle also served as a reservoir as my classmates would casually borrow water during lectures. The fact that I'm short (ama ukipenda, down to earth 😂😂) made it look like I carried a bottle seemingly huge for someone like me.
Anytime someone tapped me on the shoulder, during a lecture, and especially in the afternoon, I knew that they needed some water if not a rubber, pencil, ruler, red pen oooooooooorrrrrrr, some fancy gel pen to put down a Heading/Sub-heading.... Ehe, I feel like mentioning names here.... (coz I always had my stationery with me, while people came to class with a single blue ballpoint pen   Up to-date, I still find it abnormal to walk out of the house without my pencil pouch ).

Second from Hydration, is Moisturising. This ensures that the skin stays soft and less flaky. Everyone's skin is a little different; for some creams work best, for some natural oils work best while for others steroids work best (especially if the eczema is severe).
Since time immemorial, I have this tube of moisturiser that I always carry and which I refill when necessary (this too, apart from water, is something that most of my girl-friends know me for). Anytime my hands get into contact with water, I have to moisturise them lest they get overly dry and scaly. 
Over the years, it's been sort of a trial and error in terms of trying to find products that work for me. What haven't I tried though!  
Initially, 100% of the time, I would get frustrated when a product didn't work for me yet it seemed to work perfectly fine for others. However, the good thing is that, whatever that didn't work for my face/legs definitely worked for my hair, so yep! Issa win! Nothing goes wasted. 
At the beginning, apart from the prescribed creams, I used Arimi's (that milking jelly 😝😝) I know I'm not the only one who has used this. You too have used or are currently using it. The reason behind using it was the testimonials from people or rather, the word of mouth advertisement. Everyone talked about how it made their skin as soft as that of a baby, it had no 'chemicals' and therefore was good for every skin. Well, unfortunately, my skin didn't seem to feel that vibe. 
From Arimi's I tried all varieties of the  Vaseline and Nivea lotions, the Johnsons and Cussons baby oils, Coconut, castor, olive oils ... None of them seemed to work. What happened was, when I applied them on my face, it would get so oily and I'd get breakouts. The same happened to my legs. That clearly meant that I had to discontinue and try something else.

What Works For Me!

🔶Shea Butter :  I've been using shea butter for my legs for like a year and a half now, from Sheth Naturals (thanks to narutalistas events like Hairitage Chronicles). Shea butter which is full of all-natural vitamin A, works as an anti-inflammatory and aids in numerous skin conditions.  I also use it for my hair.

🔶Nivea Creme: (comes in a blue-ish flat, round tin) works perfectly well for my face. It contains Eucerit. What Eucerit does is it mimics the natural balancing act of oil and water on your skin surface so that means it can adapt to and protect your skin in the driest and coldest conditions. It is also used to heal wounds and reduce the flaring up in eczema.

🔶Bentonite Soap:  (again, a big thank you to the various facebook, IG and Twitter pages/aacounts that are all about natural hair and skin care).
I use bentonite soap twice in a week, preferably on Sunday and Wednesday.
Some choose to use bentonite clay.. There's absolutely no difference between the two apart from their physical forms. This is how Bentonite works; bentonite soap/clay has a negative charge, much like distilled water or rainwater. The toxins and irritants in and on your body such as bacteria, heavy metals and allergens are mostly positively charged.

Now, due to the absorbent and porous nature of green clay and the opposing charged particles, the clay will actually draw in these nasties and lock them within its own framework. Boom... Detox! Cleanser! Toner!
The result is very soothed and relaxed eczema with most people (I included) reporting almost immediate relief.

From the experts, it's advised to use warm water (not hot) during showers. This is to avoid irritating the skin. Moisturising when the skin is damp is also recommended.
Eczema may never really go away but it's possible to manage it. Like I put it in my previous post, Self Acceptance is the first step to managing  Eczema and any other skin related conditions.
I hope you, my dear reader, find this helpful to you or for a known friend/relative who suffers from eczema or other non-contagious skin problems.

There are quite a number of outlets in the country that stock a variety of  natural skin care products. The few I know of are: 

•• Keyara Organics (founded by the sassy  TerryAnne Chebet, because she had difficulty in finding products that work for her daughter who also has eczema)

•• Sheth Naturals

•• Bu. Ke Products 

•• Shea Africa

•• Mixa Kenya

Love 💕 

Wanjah Nyagah