Eczema has been a great teacher. Over the past 8 or 9 years of dealing with my daughter’s eczema, I have learned many lessons though often reluctantly. Infact my whole family has. My daughter has learned what it means to be strong during very tough times and also how to deal with the many challenges she has faced in her young life. As a family we have learned the importance of showing our love for our daughter and being supportive; being there for her no matter what. Personally, eczema has taught me what patience is all about and that often there is a silver lining behind the grey cloud on the horizon. Of course, we have learned many other lessons as well, but these to my mind are the most important ones.

In the quest to learn more about this chronic condition which has been our constant companion for almost a decade now, I have learned a lot. I have been writing about it in my blog for almost three years now. I have written about the Functional Medicine treatment that my daughter is on currently. She is in fact responding very well to the treatment and we are in the process of lowering her immunossupressive medications.  But that topic is for my next blog post, today I am writing about another aspect of treating eczema.

Our experience with essential oils

I first came across essential oils in a meaningful and relevant manner in October last year. Before that mostly what I knew about essential oils were from my visits to the spa or salon and/or from fragranced beauty and other bath products. But even then I came to know much later that the fragrances in the usual beauty and bath products are actually artificial chemicals which try to imitate the natural fragrances of plants.

Last October, my daughter’s doctors were struggling to control her widespread staph infection due to the skin wounds from her constant scratching. Staph infection is a bacterial infection caused due to the presence of the bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus (or staph in short) which gets in through the cracks in the cuts and wounds on eczema prone skin. It is commonly present in those with healthy skins as well but is usually not able to create as many issues. The doctors had to give her two back to back week long dosages of antibiotics when the infection came back within 2 weeks of completing the first round of antibiotics. And even after that the infection was not completely under control and she was very itchy, inflamed and uncomfortable.

I was desperate enough to try bleach bath for her where I diluted household bleach with bath water and forced her to take a bath in it in an effort to get rid of the infection. It is a practice used to control severe staph infections in those with eczema. It was a a very painful time for her since the bleach bath used to sting her whole body. I felt like a really horrible person and mother for inflicting this kind of suffering on my daughter but my desperation forced me to try it out. Those were very trying times filled with pain and tears for all of us but thankfully they are behind us now. Now my daughter is able to enjoy both her bath and swimming lessons after many years. Essential oils came to our rescue and brought the infection under control and we have not looked back since.

(Further reading

https://nationaleczema.org/eczema/related-conditions/infections/staph/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131030142414.htm)

Essential oils and Aromatherapy 

Unfortunately, in our zeal to embrace modern versions of medicine, quite a few of us have lost touch with other forms of treatment which can be equally effective. Luckily, I was thrust in the midst of the wonderful aromatic world of plant based therapy which have actually been used by man for millennia. But keep in mind that I am referring to the class of essential oils that are of therapeutic grade due to their 100% purity and which can be used for healing purposes. There are no bases, fillers or additives added. Most of the essential oils which are available in the market are not of therapeutic grade but are diluted and are good only for cosmetological needs and consumer products. I will be writing more about the brands and the companies that I use for managing eczema later in this post.

Essential oils are volatile liquids and are made mostly by a distillation process by extracting these from the leaves, flowers, seeds, roots and resins. The process of distillation separates the water and oil based compounds of the plant and makes the oil highly concentrated.  Infact it takes about 30 kgs of rose petals to make just about 15 ml of rose essential oil! This makes essential oils highly potent and effective for healing purposes. Essential oils have antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic, antiparasitic, anti-inflammatory and highly therapeutic properties.  But like any other treatment, essential oils need to be treated with respect and with due knowledge of how to use them. Also, just like other treatments, aromatherapy works best in  combination with conventional treatments (if required for an existing condition), a good balanced and healthy diet, a daily stress management routine and regular excercise. 

(You can read more about them at

https://www.naha.org/explore-aromatherapy/about-aromatherapy/what-are-essential-oils

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2221169115001033)

All oils are not created equal

As I have mentioned earlier, there are different grades of essential oils. The ones I am referring to for managing eczema and other medical conditions are specifically therapeutic ones. The other ones might be much cheaper but will not have the healing properties that you need. In any case, since these oils are highly concentrated and very potent, only a few drops are needed at a time. They also have to be diluted at all times for topical applications even though there are a few exceptions.

The essential oils I use for managing staph infections and at the same time healing eczema prone skin are lavender, tea tree, geranium, clary sage, clove and oregano. I make a blend of oils by mixing 2 to 3 oils with a carrier oil (coconut oil) and use it to moisturise my daughter daily. Lavender and tea tree essential oils are the most important ones that I use every time while I add a third oil from the remaining list. Also keep in mind that clove and oregano are warming and highly potent oils and I use it mostly for fighting infections and not daily use. I do not use more than 5 to 6 drops of each in the blend and make up the rest with the remaining oils that I am using for that blend.

The dosage for the oils for a 3% topical (recommended) application is 30 drops of the essential oils (10 drops of each oil if using 3 essential oils) mixed with 30 ml of the carrier oil (coconut oil). In case of very young children and babies, you can start with a 1% 0r 2 % dilution which means about 5 to 6 drops of each oil ( or around 15 drops in all) mixed with 30 ml of the carrier oil. You also can use this concentration for maintenance  purposes once the skin infection has come under control.

A note of caution:  Avoid using essential oils on very young children (less than 2 years) and babies. If it is necessary to use for stubborn infection, use ones which are gentle on their delicate skin like lavender, tea tree and geranium and with maximum dilution. You can also buy a blend called Eczema Helper from the brand Plant Therapy made especially for children from 2 to 10 years of age. So far I have not been able to find any shopping site which ships this product to India apart from the Plant Therapy website itself and the link is given below-   

http://www.planttherapy.com/eczema-helper

The amounts of the essential oils should be increased or decreased in proportion to the carrier oil used. The blend should be kept in a glass bottle in a dark area well away from sunlight or any other source of light and heat. This blend can be applied whenever and wherever on the body moisturisation is required.

There are a few companies based in the US like Edens Garden, Plant Therapy, Young Living and Do Terra from where you can buy therapeutic grade essential oils . However, only Edens Garden Essential Oils and Plant Therapy Essential Oils are available as of now on Ebay India.  Sometimes, some of the other brands are available on Amazon India and Rediff shopping but are more expensive.  You can use the following link on Ebay India to buy the Edens Garden and Plant Therapy brand of essential oils–

Stop and smell the roses

Very often when we are pressed with stressful times in life, we forget that life is not just about tiding through tough times or “managing  situations”. It is also about enjoying time spent with family and friends, having fun, being creative and simply “doing nothing”. Infact in today’s world where we are hard pressed for time, “doing nothing” seems a sacrilege for most of us. The fact is, it is one of the most important gifts we can give ourselves. I have also had times when I felt that if I took some time out from managing my daughter’s eczema in some way or the other, I would not be a good parent. I did not feel “constructive” if I took out some time to take care of myself. But now I know that is simply not true! We all need a break from time to time to keep our sanity and remain productive.

I now use essential oils frequently for this purpose. Essential oils have an amazing array of benefits and uses. Diffusing a few drops of lavender (calming and sleep inducing) essential oils or other oils like ylang ylang, sandalwood, jasmine (to name a few) can calm you down.

As one wise person said, as you walk down the fairway of life, you must stop to smell the roses, for you get to play only one round.