Eczema

[Festered]

My best friend and room mate has horrendous eczema on his palms, and his feet, which he is constantly scratching at, all his skins split on his hands, it's awful and it's driving me nuts because he isn't doing anything about it at all, bar putting the odd smidge of petroleum jelly on it.
Can anyone recommend anything that they know works, any herbal or home remedies or even over the counter stuff if it's vegan friendly?
If I actually physically buy it (I may even put it on for him! I reckon he will stick with it.
Thank you in advances

[Marrers]

It's really difficult when it is on hands. My sister had this and found it was made a lot worse by any contact with water. She avoided water as much as possible and used to put cream on her hands at night, wearing cotton gloves to keep it in place.

I had eczema elsewhere and found it improved when I constantly moisturised, I mean every time I thought about it - maybe several times an hour. At the time I wasn't vegan and used Aqueous Cream but now on the relatively minor flare ups I still get I use Lavera Neutral body lotion, but it might not be thick enough for hands or feet.

(I found the Lavera Basis body lotion unpleasantly sticky and thick - it may work on hands and feet though but try a tester first if posible.)

Pressing a hairbrush onto the skin may relieve the itching and minimise damage from scratching.

[vegetarian_cat]

my, he must be in pretty bad shape as far as toxemia goes... The best thing he can do is to fast for a few days and start eating a lot more raw vegan food...

[xrodolfox]

I had bad eczema on my hands for year. I could barely rub my wife's shoulders for a massage, and my skin was so flaky and thin that my hands would puncture when holding paper clips. All was not well.

I went to my MD/Homeopath and get had me use homeopathy as well as avoiding some processed foods. I got better in a few months, and it hasn't come back in 6+ years. Eczema is very much like allergies.

[Festered]

Thank you folks.

[soulfulbodymind]

I wrote something that you might be interested in How to Naturally Cure Eczema and Other Skin Conditions.

Basically, a skin disorder is a blood disorder. Too much acidic blood. He needs to eat more alkaline-forming foods (fruits, veggies, some nuts and seeds etc).

My son had eczema very bad (which are pictured in my post) after the change in diet, he cleared up after so many months. It is a slow process but that depends on how severe it is. I only have experience with my son so I can not someone else how long THEIR body will take to heal.

Hope this helps!

[Tigerlily]

Do not let him use cortisone ointment for long periods of time. If your roommate finally decides to see a doctor and is prescribed cortisone ointment, he should only use it sparingly and not for months/years on end.

I used to have bad eczema on my ankle. The doctor gave me a cortisone ointment prescription. I followed the directions, used it twice daily, and I used it for about a year or so. My eczema is gone but now I'm left with a weird, brownish-beige dry patch of skin. Cortisone thins the skin and discolors it.

I wish I never used it. I wasn't vegan at the time, so I wasn't aware of other remedies/didn't think about them.

[Marrers]

My eczema is gone but now I'm left with a weird, brownish-beige dry patch of skin.

My skin is yellow stained in parts from using cortisone creams and ointments 25 years ago (the skin is not dry in that area though).

[Tigerlily]

I'm so glad I didn't use it elsewhere. I had a breakout on my eyelids but I didn't use the cortisone cream because it was sticky and thick. Instead, I used my mom's expensive eye cream (lol she wasn't happy at first but she didn't say no). Whew! Imagine gross, scaly, dry skin on my eyelids?