Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Eczema (atopic dermatitis) is well treated using naturopathic medicine. Eczema is a chronic, itching skin eruption. The exact cause of eczema is unknown, but it seems to be related to immune system malfunction. Eczema is often associated with asthma and hay fever; usually first appears between the ages of five to seven and may flare up and remit many times over the course of your lifetime.
Professional healthcare should be sought out if self-care measures are ineffective, if your eczema is widespread or if your skin becomes infected.
Symptoms of eczema
Possible symptoms of eczema include:
• Itchy skin
• Thickened, cracked or scaly skin
• Reddish to brownish-gray patches of skin
Treatment of eczema at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of eczema treatment are significant or complete reduction of itch, healing of damaged skin and management of associated health conditions (e.g., asthma, hay fever).
Conventional treatment for eczema includes variety of medications, including topical or oral corticosteroids and immunomodulators, which may have short- or long-term side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your eczema symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, a typical approach to treating eczema may be to first identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., use of aggressive skin cleansers, environmental factors), identify and eliminate dietary triggers of breakouts and use botanical (herbal) medicines to soothe and heal the skin.
Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
• Diet therapy
• Cleansing protocols
• Nutritional supplements
• Botanical (herbal) medicines
• Homotoxicological medicines
• Homeopathic medicines
• Acupuncture
• Hydrotherapy
• Relaxation techniques
References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Eczema. [Online]. [cited 18 Feb 2009] Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/eczema/DS00986 .