This took me for a while to write about this topic since this blog is mostly for fashion, beauty and lifestyle and in fact some people were opposed to the idea of me posting this topic. Also everyone knows that it is hard to share and be open about your dark side of the story.
However, I do care and really wanted to share this for the longest time because I know exactly how terrifying the conditions and experiences are as a person who's suffered from over a decade, not to mention how helpless it feels regardless the severity of the conditions. Therefore, I am taking chance to write about this blog hoping that it might help someone out there suffering.
Depending on the severity or type of conditions, this remedy might work or might not. However it helped me and I am now eczema free! In addition, this remedy did help several people that I know heal theirs. Therefore, I am feeling pretty positive and really hope that this remedy works for you. Not really sure this will work for psoriasis condition but might work, too because I am not totally sure if my condition is eczema or psoriasis.
One more thing to add, I do have seasonal allergy. My allergy test consistently identified that I am highly allergic to oak pollens. But generally, I have a big allergic reactions to dust mites such as when I do a big cleaning of house, closets, old books and clothes and these rashes flare right up. My condition remedied by below method for several years recently came back after a big spring cleaning. It started with a big episode of sneezing, watery eyes followed by my eczema areas flared up looking like hives and it took me about 2 month to cleared them up again. However, one and a half month of enzyme solution alone did very little, but enzyme solution with atopalm cream and allergy supplement, it took me a week to clear them all. So if you have specific allergies, those are closely linked to eczema or other flaring skin conditions since skin flaring condition is more of reaction of your body to the allergens. Therefore, allergy control and management should be included in this remedy. I specified at the end of this blog what I use to keep my seasonal/allergy at bay.
If you don't have season allergy or specific allergy, you can only try the enzyme solution and skin repair creams, first. If that does not work, add allergy remedy.
MY CONDITION AND STORY
First, a brief history of my condition and story. Mine was mostly on the knees and top of my hands but my hands were more severe than the knees. The cause for my condition I could speculate is when we rescued a kitty cat from a parking lot and the cat was infested with fleas. I definitely got flea bites on my ankles and knees and initially had severe skin reactions. Then on, somewhat the knee spots moved over to my hands and this over decade never ending agony began.
It was all over the top of hands not on palms and between fingers and sometimes wrists. It was always the same spots and area where routinely inflamed, flare up and never went away. Mostly because I scratch during the nights so rashes never get completely healed or there is always fresh ones from scratching. The itchiness throughout the nights were unbearable and I woke up with bloody scratchy marks all over my hands and knees. It was a never ending cycle of agony and nightmare which lasted over a decade!
The social embarrassment... I always hid my hands under the sleeves like I had some kind of ugly diseases, and people asked if I had poison ivy hives or something. Over a decade I had this...
Dermatologists were not interested in ever identifying the exact type of skin condition or cause regardless my numerous complaints - calling it simply Eczema and told there was no cure... Also told it was stress induced (Yes I was stressed? by it) and also my cats(?). In fact, if I didn't have enough sleep at night or going through some mental stress, without a doubt they showed up. Soap, my cats, wool sweaters and dusts seemed to be also huge triggers for me, too. But when my cats passed away, my Ezcema didn't go away so cats were not the cause.
Doctors'd prescribed enough expensive steroid creams which worked just briefly and temporarily. Without them, I could not have sleep at night or through the days, then the creams thinned my skin making them look blueish and ashy. I became too dependent on them and all together gave up on using at some point while I tried oat meal bath and whatever possible remedies out there online to no avail.
Then one day, one of my friends who worked in a hospital saw my hands and told me that I looked like having scabies on my hands. She said she had seen people at the hospital with similar conditions and once during her travel, she and her friend were infested by them while staying at some foreign hotel and she had to go thru intense treatment and harsh medicines to get rid of the condition.
I was not at all familiar with these microscopic creatures so I searched online. My condition didn't exactly rhyme with the case she mentioned because it flares up routinely and only on hands and knees. If mite infection, it could have spread to other areas, too.
At some point of my online search, I came across this natural enzyme solution called Kleen-Free Naturally and success stories of people eliminating scabies using this solution. It claims to be natural, not harmful chemical to human body and it works to stop whatever the microscopic creature's reproduction cycle and kill their eggs. This solution is used for cleaning soap scums, boost laundry and other soils by natural enzyme.
This sounded quite weird or even creepy but I really had nothing to lose so I bought the solution online. They have diluted spray and concentrated solution versions. I bought both. Following the instruction, I submerged my hands in recommended concentration of mixture of the enzyme solution and relatively hot water. The instruction was like bathing the affected area about 20 minutes and 20 minutes was pretty hard to do! Luckily, my condition was only on my hands so it was relatively easier for me to do but people affected with broader area were taking a bath.
My hands were hot and pruned after the soaking in the solution water. I did this for several days. I felt definitely something better but not entirely better. The rash flare ups did come back but less frequently than before. I got a bit lazy so I used diluted spray on my hands and knees then air dried, rather than soaking in the solution as also the concentrated solution ran out quickly by diluting it in a water to fill the bathroom sink full everyday.
The diluted preformed spray actually worked better than the soaking method so I continued using the spray and my rashes were slowly getting under the control. This was almost the Hallelujah moment and I started seeing my normal hands again. It regained normal warm skin color recovered rom the blueish, full of wounds and scratched. So I knew my condition was improving. I don't remember when was the last time I saw my hands this normal and pretty.
The way solution works is that if any microscopic species are causing this condition, they are located just below of the skin surface as they like the body temperature and humidity of the skin and there they inhabit, lay eggs and hatch in cycle. Therefore, if the eggs are just laying there, your skin might be just normal and not so itchy then when they hatch, those adults come up to the surface and that's when the skin flares up since they are now active and bigger. Therefore, if eggs are dead and the adults are reproductively challenged by the enzyme, they will cease to survive going through several cycles and at last your skin will be free of them.
This was just the theory I read how it works but I really don't know this was how it worked on mine. Also I really hate to think I had some type of organism living on my hands and knees. Yucky!
Back to my condition, my rash flare ups became less and less frequent. But while majorly of the flares were healed and gone, several stubborn spots remained. This took me about a month to get rid of the most rashes and them healed and left with few stubborn spots. I sprayed on the spots every night after shower and before sleep, for a week or two until I saw the first sign of improvement. Then, the itchiness was getting less and less so I only applied when I feel itchy or saw signs of flare ups.
Spaying on the hands and air drying was a bit dry to the skin. I wasn't sure if I should apply lotion on top to ease the dryness, thinking that lotion might add a counter effect to the solution's effectiveness.
At this point, what I did was I used lotion in combination with the solution after reading some article where it says eczema skins should be moisturized to recover back to the original state. Dry skin is part of cause for new flare ups and without your skin recovering back to normal and functioning state, your skin will act like wounded person and overreact.
What it means by that is when your skin is sick it is defensive and overreacting. When skin is wounded, the body starts wound process like looking red and fights infections. We practice first aid and apply medicine to help this process but once this stage passes, we need to let it heal, rest and just clean it until it is fully recovered.
Eczema is like the condition your skin never gets out of this initial overreacting and defensive mode. Therefore, it easily flares up reacting to the smallest challenge and triggers. It is always in war mode and never know how to act in peace. The allergens could be anything from heat, cold, soap, tree pollen, dust, pets, wools, certain fabrics or even papers. When your body is in defense mode, you are suddenly allergic to everything like angry person. One year I had severe seasonal allergy and when I took an allergy test, I was even allergic to corns and carrots! Are you kidding me? Then next year, when I was better, I was only allergic to cats and oak pollens.
So the point here is that after some initial healing, you need help your skin's get out of this defensive stage and help your skin to regain its normal stage and build strength and tolerance against these normal environmental allergens and triggers. Also If you were able to identify the cause of your flare ups, you should avoid them until your skin built enough strength against them.
What I did here was, I mixed about concentrated solution and my body lotion, 1:10 (vol:vol) in a small batch and applied over my spots before sleep and throughout the day whenever I feel itch or saw a sign of flare ups. Try not to scratch and only apply when you need. This method works better than the soaking and spraying alone. It seems that the skin was protected and nourished with the lotion while also the enzyme solution could stay coated on the skin longer. And slowly my skin got rid of all the stubborn spots by time and this is 2nd year since I tried this remedy and all my rashes are completely healed and I rarely get rashes... I would say I had probably 1-2 times mild rashes every several months on my hands but I used the concentrated enzyme & lotion and they go away almost fast as the next day.
OTHERS' STORIES
Here I wanted to add a few cases of this remedy used on my mom and one of friends who got rid of their conditions.
For my mom, her issue was on one of her big toe nails. Her condition was also about decade long - only one toe. It is quite embarrassing for her, too as the spot is alway itchy and the nail is grown disfigured - I think everyone knows what this means with athlete's foot maybe. I told her about this solution since I didn't tell anyone because I was going through my own trial and error with the usage. But once I cleared enough of mine I was confident to recommend to others.
I have to say some are skeptical as the method is weird as it sound so they never tried, but the ones who tried well succeed! For my mom, her nail looks really bad and even black. For her I just gave her the spray to just try if it works. Voila! She saw an immediate relief from the itchiness on the 2nd or 3rd day and after a week or two, her nail started regrowing normally! She bought more bottles.
Then there was one friend, she was also suffering from itchiness and rashes at her ankles. She says the spots never fully healed and rashes always come back with intense itchiness at night and she could not sleep. She said she could not wear shorts during summer for many years. To me they looked scaly and ashy. And the night itchiness is the most painful thing she said. For her, I told her to exfoliate the spot more because they looked wet scabbed and gave her the mixture of enzyme solution and lotion (1:10(v/v)) in a little bottle to apply. She said it helped her spots heal and most of her rashes are gone except for the main and stubborn spots. For that, I gave her the concentrated solution, to soak/coat the spot with Q-tips several times and when dried, apply the lotion. This process got rid of her stubborn rashes finally. She bought her own enzyme solution.
I don't have rash/Eczema issues any more. However I do get a few time to time once in a while like every several months because I still react to some allergens I have identified for my case.
So this is the way I use now, if there is rash I soaked the spot with concentrated enzyme solution with Q-tip and let it soak and air dry. I apply lotion mixture to protect the skin from drying. It has been working for me.
Well, that was not a brief story like when I started writing. So long story short. The following is my remedy for you to try.
*We are not affiliated with any products/brands/companies featured in this blog post.
M Y R E M E D Y
You probably know what to do by now if you have read my story above but, here is what I recommend for you to try from my remedy. The method might sound totally bizarre for you indeed but the ingredients used in this is non-toxic and organic and me nor anyone who tried didn't have reaction or side effect from it. It is also pretty cheap and indeed easy to try method per se. Please remember to follow instructions, safety caution as per the product bottle label - External Use Only!
WHAT YOU NEED
These are the ingredients/products that you need. For lotions and creams, you can use any body lotion of your choice but I do recommend the listed lotions and creams.
Kleen-Free Naturally Preformed Enzyme Cleaner Spray $12.07 amazon.com
Kleen-Free Natural Enzyme, Non-toxic, Organic Concentrate Solution, 32oz. $20.43 amazon.com
Aveeno Daily Moisturizgin Body Lotion $9, aveeno.com or drugstores near you
St. Ives Deep Restoring 24 Hour Moisture Body Lotion $5, stives.com or drugstore near you
ATOPALM Real Barrier Extreme Cream $25.20, atopalm.com
WHAT TO DO
I recommend you to first try on a small patch of affected area or main spots. If it works, move on to bigger area.
CLEAN AREA AND APPLY ENZYME SPRAY/SOLUTION
I recommend this after shower or after your night washing. Spray Kleen-Free Enzyme spray (this is less concentrated and preformed) on your concerned spots and let them air dry. Soak the spots/area like the solution running over your skin, let them dry and go to sleep. Your skin will feel warm and heated on it but I didn't experience any reaction or irritation from it.If this spray just works for you, you might not even need to try lotion version like my mom's infected toe nail. But in case of skin rashes, I do recommend you to try the following lotion mixture. This mixture also works like healing lotion whenever you feel itchy or rashes come up.
MAKE ENZYME & LOTION MIXTURE
Make the mixture of concentrated enzyme solution and your body lotion (approx 1:10(v/v)). Shake or stir to blend well. You can make this a big batch or small as trial size. The mix ratio doesn't need to be exact but I found about this ratio effective enough and not too thin or runny in the viscosity. I recommend the suggested Aveedo body lotion and St' ives lotion - both with natural ingredients - one with oatmeal, skin soothing and the other one with almond/flaxseed for skin moisturizing and restoring properties. These are the ones worked for me out of handful of lotions that I've tried. This lotion mixture definitely helps when your affected areas are bigger. Apply these after shower or before sleep.
For me I made the whole bottle mixture. I pumped out 1/10 of the lotion and fill up with the concentrated enzyme solution and mixed.
ONLY APPLY WHENEVER YOU NEED
Once any of above method works and you are seeing your rashes are healing nicely, only apply whenever your skin flare up or itchy. My rashes were scabbed and recovering as opposed to wet and itchy again in the past. So I knew the healing was really happening.
If you get less flares up needing less and less of them, it is the sure sign that the remedy is working as well as your skin is responding to the remedy.
For stubborn spots, apply concentrated enzyme solution to the affected area for spot treatment - making sure you feel like the spot well soaked and the solution is well absorbed by applying several coats, not just dabbing it. The solution should be able to reach underneath skin not only the surface because if something is buried under the skin, it might not get the solution to work.
REPAIR SKIN WHEN NOT INFLAMED
When your skin is not flared up or inflamed, like between cycles and not itchy, apply skin repairing/healing lotion or cream to nourish and repair the skin barriers.
This is one of the important steps in this remedy process since your skin have been fighting against whatever the atopic attack or irritation causing the inflamed rashes year after years or repeatedly, skin itself has been quite damaged and had no time to repair back to its original state, always fighting as wounded and tired soldiers.
When it is not flared up, you apply creams and lotions to help repair and recover skin to its normal state. Once you regained skin's normal state and skin could function more normally and stronger against future attacks.
I've came across this product line from company Atopalm which line was developed for specifically Eczema conditions. This extreme cream I personally used was for my winter dry face during the cold months but while I applied this to my face, I also did on my hands and it really helped improving my conditions.
Atopalm Intensive Moisturizing Cream 3.4 fl oz. $22, amazon.com
Try popular Eczema specialized healing ointment or cream from brands like Aquaphor, Mustela, Eucerin or even simple vaseline because these thick creams could add physical barrier to your skin, physically protect your skin from getting in contact with any atopic allergens while help skin to get nourished.
ALLERGY CONTROL/MANAGEMENT
As mentioned at the beginning of this blog, I do have seasonal/allergic condition to certain allergens. From my collective experience on when and how my condition gets flared up, I feel it is closely related to my allergy conditions, too. When it came back recently, the kleen-free solution or lotion mixture did not worked alone to clear the condition but I needed the solution (main area control), lotion (repair) and allergy supplement (trigger defense), all three to work.
Blue poppy AllerEase is the one I used and this supplement really works! This allergy supplement, I've also used in the past to clear my seasonal allergy conditions as well, not only for my Eczema.
I took many brands of doctor prescribed seasonal allergy medicines but they were too strong, made me drowsy and worked only temporarily. Then, my acupuncturist recommended this supplement when I went for seasonal allergy/sinus treatments and it worked almost immediately like within a couple of day! I only took these during the seasonal allergy seasons like 3 months in spring and fall when I start sneezing and it worked every time and every year. You take 2-3 capsules per day in the morning and you are good to go.
This supplement has been easily available online for many years but now it is a bit harder to find. But, still can find online or at your acupuncturist's office. It comes either 60 caps or 180 caps bottles. I usually get a 180 caps bottle and take for 3 months during those allergy seasons. The junior tincture version is new and made for pediatrics use and I recently switched over to this. I love this version not only for how easy to take the dose but also the sweet taste since this is made for children. The capsule version kind of has weird smell and a lot of capsules to take per day.
Blue Poppy AllerEase $180 caps $56, camformulas.com
Blue Poppy AllerEase Jr. Liquid 2 oz. $22, amazon.com
I hope you enjoyed(?) reading this blog and find this information useful. This remedy maybe totally sound bizarre to try or you may have not heard of such things but it did work for me and that's why I am sharing. If you or someone you know are suffering from this condition and you have tried everything and nothing worked, you really have nothing to lose to try this. This organic - I would not call it totally natural since it does use some claimed to be organic but commercial products is quite safe to try.
So there was my two cents. If you do try this and works for you. Please write me comments or email to let me know if or how it works or not! If you have questions on how to use or try this, please email or comment to ask. I would love to hear from you.