New SolveEczema.org Developments

I wanted to let you know of a few new developments with SolveEczema.org
(I have never been able to recover my blog feed from Feedburner so I have no idea how many people this is reaching, but I hope a few people!):

1) A video slideshow overview of the material on SolveEczema.org, based on a talk I developed for a parenting resources center. http://vimeo.com/33522513

2) Suspension of affiliate marketing on the new SolveEczema blog — the only reason I began affiliate marketing was to find support so I could focus my time on the work, but I found being successful at blog monetization took far too much focus, thwarting the original intent of the marketing in the first place.

3) A crowdfunding campaign to help me focus full-time this work, finish a book at a minimum, or take whatever concrete steps toward a medical study that the crowdfunding project allows. I WOULD VERY MUCH APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT AND/OR HELP SPREADING THE WORD, if possible. (The above video begins with a short msg about the crowdfunding project, which ends in February.) http://www.indiegogo.com/solveeczema

Thanks and kind regards, A.J. Lumsdaine
http://www.solveeczema.org

Moving to a new eczema blog at WordPress.org

I am moving this blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org.  The new blog will be at http://www.solvecezema.org/eczemablog

The main differences:

1)  Additional pages, including a separate page for Off-topic posts (posts not related to Solveeczema.org or eczema, though many will be health-related).

2) A few carefully-chosen ads related to the recommendations I already make, and a “shop” page with more recommendations. Over the years, many people have suggested this for the site to make it easier to find everything at once. I still can’t provide one place to get everything, because the shop capability is with Amazon rather than Drugstore.com (which has more of the recommended products).

(Here’s what the “shop” looks like: Amazon.com Store  )

The blog is still not a commercial blog per se — the information is still free and no one has to buy anything that I recommend to get the benefit of it — but I decided to start monetizing through affiliate relationships for a few reasons.  Most importantly, I have operated the SolveEczema website and blog as hobbies all these years.  In that time, it has helped many people all over the world. I always had the goal of a medical study and publishing in scientific literature.  In order to devote the time and energy necessary, I have to find a way to make it my work rather than my hobby.  Donations have helped defray the costs associated with the site, but I have not pushed donations and most expenses of the site have been born by me.  Monetizing the blog through affiliate relationships — earning a small percentage of sales if people click on ad links to make their purchases — was a first obvious step to generating some income to allow me to pursue this as work, especially since I already recommend products.

In the long run, my dream is to have a social business that supports a foundation to problem solve ostensibly intractable diseases and medical conditions, where I believe the answer already exists in medical literature and solutions require problem solving rather than new science. This is the first step.   Thanks for your support!

http://www.solveeczema.org/eczemablog

Solveeczema.org in summary

 

Soap is not the problem, it is often the solution. Image: Sujin Jetkasettakorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My understanding and philosophy about eczema have changed and grown over time.  I’m working on updates to the site — and working on a campaign to fund a medical study, stay tuned — but here’s what I believe in a nutshell:

First, these are my opinions — based on an extensive review of medical literature and much discussion with chemists, microbiologists, medical professionals, and many, many parents of children with eczema over the years, but my opinions nevertheless, not accepted medical views.  I am not a doctor.

Based on everything I have seen and read, I believe the majority of infantile eczema results from high levels of (often unrecognized) detergents in the environment, especially the home environment.  These substances affect the permeability of skin, have a startling physiological impact at even very low levels of exposure, affect people in “atopic families” more, and are absorbed at much higher rates by infant skin.  Detergents increase skin permeability, antigen penetration, and thus antigen load.   (I describe what I mean by detergents on the web site, it’s not what most people think.)

As children get older, their skin becomes naturally less permeable, they spend less time with their faces on their parents’ clothing and against their hair, and less time crawling across surfaces, and can seem to “outgrow” the eczema, but a lot of these children will go on to develop asthma and allergies, the so-called “atopic march”.   As they go through these transitions, kids are also becoming more active, and breathing in more and more — to sensitive lung tissue, the optimal function of which depends on biological surfactant — large amount of synthetic surfactants from indoor environments (dust comprised mainly of skin cells, lint, hair, etc., all of which come with detergents in modern environments).

I have observed and heard over and over again in the years since I put up my site that:

1)  When people make the changes I recommend on my site, not only are they able to get rid of the eczema, they go from thinking of it as a random problem to understanding exactly when and why their families are affected, how to prevent breakouts, and how to end them quickly if the exposures can’t be avoided.

2)  Along with eliminating the eczema, people see the skin begin to heal and become more substantial, normal, and less dry over a period of about two months.

3)  Because entire households have to make the changes for them to be effective, and because atopic families benefit most, I hear frequently that changes made for the benefit of a child with eczema have a marked beneficial effect on other family members’ skin problems, allergies, and asthma.

4)  If someone is very focused about it, the changes can be effected for an entire household in as little as a week.  People with hard water typically underestimate the impact of water hardness on their ability to make the changes (but many persist).  Even if the recommendations address the sole source of the eczema, sometimes infected eczema has to be treated for the problem to go away.

5)  Most people have incorrect assumptions, particularly about how green or “natural” what they are already using in their homes is, that contribute to their difficulty coming to this solution on their own.  The most effective are those who read through all the information and understand it.

I do not believe environmental detergents are the sole cause of eczema.  I do, however, believe that there are only a few other causes and that those causes tie in with this one.  I do not believe that there are many causes of eczema, as I so often hear — there are many “triggers” when the cause is not eliminated, but I believe there are only a few causes and that they are related by an underlying biological basis.

Our bodies make detergents for various biological purposes.  For lack of standard terminology, I call them biological surfactants.  One of these maintains proper pulmonary function (“surfactant” in the lungs).  Biological surfactants help us control skin membrane permeability.  This is why I believe sodium lauryl sulfate — a chemical analog of biological surfactants — is so problematic.

Another function of biological surfactants is to denature proteins in the blood stream.  I believe this is why one segment of people gets full-body eczema from ingesting certain foods, particularly protein-rich foods like milk, especially when their guts are immature (or otherwise compromised) — the “leaky gut” phenomenon may result in increased circulating biological detergent (coupled with unnatural detergent levels in the gut and on the skin from environmental sources).  Skin permeability is dramatically and unnaturally increased, antigen penetration and load increases, etc., similar to when the gut isn’t a factor.

Probiotics, beneficial bacteria, have been shown to reduce eczema rates in infants if given to pregnant women.   This leads some people to try them when their children get eczema and abandon them if they don’t “work”, but I think they could be used more effectively with a better understanding of when and why they sometimes work.  I believe the probiotic effect ties in with the observations I have made on my web site, and with my theories about why eczema and asthma have risen so dramatically in recent decades.  I won’t go into this more here, but I would note the following:

1) Probiotics, beneficial bacteria, secrete biological surfactants that help repair gut membranes (see last paragraph).

2)  We have evolved to need some bacteria to turn on certain genes in infant intestines for proper digestion.

3) In the last 100 years, we have significantly altered our relationship with natural intestinal flora and with certain fungal species, particularly yeasts, which can degrade gut membrane function under certain conditions.

4)  The medical literature is full of references to antifungal medications helping in some cases of very severe eczema, but somehow not curing it.

5)  Fungal organisms more closely resemble human skin cells than they do other microbial organisms like bacteria.

We do know that following some viral illnesses, children especially will develop full-body eczema — and I have seen at least one research paper describing high levels of circulating biological detergent following such viral illnesses.

From everything I have seen, people can track down the cause of their eczema and solve it.  I don’t mean chase after triggers their whole lives, I mean find, understand, and have control over the underlying reason for their children’s eczema.

Here is what one mom wrote to me recently (I’m perpetually bad about posting feedback, but she graciously sent photos and permission to share, I will post them soon):

“I wanted to take a moment and thank you for your reply and let you know how successful we’ve been at clearing up our daughter’s eczema. She is now 15 months and has beautiful, clear skin. It’s not just the broken patches on her skin that have cleared up- it is her complete skin tone. Previously she always had underlying red patches on her face, even those have gone now. This is really a miracle, because we’ve tried EVERYTHING (probiotics, elimination diet, olive and flaxseed oil, bleach and salt baths) since she was a few months old and would scratch herself bloody everyday. … This is what I’ve wished/prayed/cried for, for a long time. I only wish we had found your site a year earlier.”

http://www.solveeczema.org

My take on dilute bleach baths and eczema

If you follow developments in eczema treatment, you’ve seen this recommendation to try bathing your child regularly in diluted bleach baths to reduce eczema severity.  I thought this article in MedPage Today summed it well.

If you understand the Solveeczema.org approach, then you probably also know my take on it.

I discuss in Solveeczema.org‘s solutions page the necessity of treating infected eczema in the problem-solving stage.  Even if the detergents are the source of the eczema, sometimes the infected skin has to be treated before the eczema will go away.

But my approach is to eliminate what I believe is the source of the eczema at the same time, so that treating the infected skin brings it back to normal and the skin can remain normal.  This study is suggesting regular bleach baths as a treatment to reduce but not eliminate eczema.

Additionally, my observation has been that when the approach in Solveeczema is properly implemented, along with potentially eliminating the eczema, the skin changes and becomes healthier and more substantial — in children whose eczema is being eliminated, as well as in other members of the household (even if they don’t have eczema).  These skin improvements typically take place over about a two-month time period after the eczema is eliminated.

A few diluted bleach baths could be a helpful “reset” button at the start.

In the study, the researchers observed a reduction of eczema as compared to placebo over time, but only on the parts of the children’s bodies submerged in the diluted bleach water, not the face and neck, and apparently not overall a hugely convincing improvement.  A review article in the British Journal of Dermatology stated, “the difference could have been explained by regression to the mean.”

A doctor who conducted the bleach bath study felt the improvements were the result of knocking out staphyloccocus on the skin, which is known to be a problem for children with eczema, though the above review article found no evidence that managing staphylococcus aureus alone had any “clinically helpful” impact on eczema.

I personally believe fungi/yeast can be a part of the abnormal microbial picture, too, since babies do not fight yeast infections on the skin especially well.  I also — obviously — believe the skin microbial imbalances are a result of the abnormal environmental influence, the increases in membrane permeability from detergents on the skin and the problems that causes.  The more conventional belief is that the eczema and microbial imbalances are the result of a defect in the skin and that perhaps the staph plays a more causative role, though again, no clinical improvements have been directly associated with controlling the staph.

Although it is certainly also mainstream to see the eczema epidemic as primarily environmental because the rapid rise cannot be reconciled with a purely genetic cause (again, see Solveeczema for reference), this observation conflicts with the skin “defect perspective.”

My concerns:

While I am glad to see a potential new tool for dealing with infected skin on a short-term basis, I have concerns about using these bleach baths as a chronic treatment.

First of all, it doesn’t eliminate the eczema and it must be done regularly.

And, I don’t think clinical recommendations can be made from such limited study of such small numbers anyway and safety has not been established.

Secondly, I would note that bleach in the water would help remove detergent residues from the skin of these children better than water alone.  How much of the improvement they noticed was the result of inadvertently regularly mitigating detergent on the skin of these children?  The researchers wouldn’t even have been aware of this issue.  (I would personally see this kind of bleach-bath treatment as a problem-solving step, not an ultimate treatment modality to pursue.)

Thirdly, children and babies have very permeable skin, and chlorine is absorbed by the skin and mucous membranes.  Real concerns about bleach and safety are not hard to find, for example, in this California Environmental Protection Agency sheet on safe sanitizing in childcare centers.  While I personally think doing this kind of bath once or twice might be a reasonable trade-off, I have real concerns about kids regularly bathing in and breathing the fumes from a bleach bath, especially if it’s not actually eliminating the eczema.

Kids with eczema are more at risk of developing asthma.  And breathing chlorine fumes (swimming in chlorinated pools) increases risk for kids of  getting brionchiolitis, asthma, and allergy.   I have inserted one link there, but type “bleach asthma” into the journal search box and you will find a long list of journal articles on this topic.

To the best of my knowledge, the researchers conducting the bleach bath study have not made clinical recommendations.  I would personally recommend against experimenting with anything with the potential safety concerns of bleach.  However, for someone currently eliminating detergents in the household who has concerns of persistently infected skin from past eczema, trying a few of these diluted bleach baths — ONLY after discussing it thoroughly with your child’s pediatrician! — might be helpful and potentially gentler than an oral medication approach.

I’d like to make a parenthetical note here that if the results of this study are reproducible, it contradicts the interpretation of other bath studies ostensibly supporting the hygiene hypothesis.  Previous studies found that infants who were excessively bathed had more eczema, and the conclusion in some quarters has been that these kids were “too clean” and “sterile” skin can lead to allergies.

I personally did not find that interpretation logical, as I have said on Solveeczema.org, the skin of these children would be so breached from all that bathing, they would have more microbial problems, not fewer.  This bleach bath study directly refutes that interpretation, as the bleach (which would have sterilized the skin) seemed to at least moderately improve the eczema over time.

 

 

Great eczema-problem-solving products resource

Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep cosmetic safety database is a fabulous resource for anyone using Solveeczema.org to problem solve their child’s eczema.

The database includes a wide range of personal care products.  Although the evaluations do not take into account specific issues from Solveeczema, or even “eczema” specifically as an outcome of any ingredient, many of the safest products listed would also work for solveeczema.  (The database does use broad terms like “skin irritation”.)  In fact, the safest baby and skin products listed are soap based.  (Be aware that many down the line are not.)

The Skin Deep database lists ingredients for every product in the database, with further safety information on each ingredient.   For each safety concern identified, there is a data gap number that basically pegs the confidence level of the safety problem.

For me, it’s been a great place to learn about new products that would work for my family.

Wishing you all a healthy, happy, eczema-free New Year!

You heard it here first (yet again)…

Great article I stumbled on recently from The Independent.  As I have said for years:

In a typical household today, the following products are almost always detergent-based or contain detergents: laundry products, including “hypoallergenic” ones for babies … dishwashing liquid; dishwasher powder; liquid and many bar “soaps”; kitchen, bathroom and other household surface cleansers; shampoo and body washes; toothpastes (including “natural” ones); many cosmetic products, creams, and moisturizers; and many processed foods.

One of the researchers of the study mentioned below is quoted as saying:
“Our study suggests that it might be better for eczema patients to use oil-based ointments on damaged skin.”

Yay!  While I’m glad to finally see this realization printed in a medical journal, they are still missing a key piece.  While it’s really important to use ointment-like moisturizers — what I call “barrier moisturizers” — it’s just as important to remove detergent residues from the skin before applying them.  If not, eczema can develop from sealing in the detergent, even very small traces on the skin of susceptible infants.

Normally I’d leave a link for the research, but this article summarizes very nicely.  Note that the journalist/British must use the word “ointment” differently than we do in the US — Aqueous cream BP is, I believe, an emollient-type moisturize.  When I say “ointment-like”, I mean barrier-type rather than emollient.

Moisturisers ‘can aggravate eczema’

By Rod Minchin, Press Association

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Using moisturiser to treat eczema could make the condition worse, scientists have claimed. Ointments such as aqueous cream BP reduce the thickness of healthy skin, aiding irritation, research from Bath University found.

Aqueous cream BP is the most widely prescribed moisturiser for the treatment of dry skin conditions. However, it contains a detergent, sodium lauryl sulphate, which can increase the permeability of the skin barrier.

Read the rest at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/moisturisers-can-aggravate-eczema-2110282.html

Cold and flu prevention = eczema prevention?

I couldn’t help passing this along.  It shows significant reduction in infection among children who take probiotics (healthy bacteria, higher dose than in yogurt).  I have used probiotics to shorten illness and prevent sore throats from progressing into something else, based on other research, so I’m not surprised by the results.

This placebo-controlled trial showed:

“When families didn’t do anything, most kids developed fever, cough, runny nose, and were treated with antibiotics sometime in the next 6 months. But among those who were given the probiotics, most kids did not get a fever, cough, runny nose or antibiotics over the next 6 months. And if they did get sick, it lasted on average about half as long.”

Read more: http://www.drgreene.com/blog/2010/09/07/probiotics-powerful-prevention#ixzz12MEJ2lG8

Since probiotics used in pregnancy have been shown to reduce eczema rates in infants – and I have my own theories about why that is, consistent with Solveeczema.org – I thought I would pass this information along.  My favorite brand of probiotic for this purpose, even for the grown ups in our house, is Baby’s Jarro-Dophilus from Jarrow, it has been more consistently effective of the ones I have used.  (Must be dissolved into a liquid, do not take straight, it can form very sticky clumps.)

Gold mine for soap

I just found this web site, which (I think) is a marketplace for a lot of vendors to sell their artisinal goods, called Art Fire.  I used search term “soap” and refined it with “unscented” and found pages and pages of handmade soaps.   Not all had ingredients I would recommend, but all of the soaps I looked at listed ingredients.  I saw many that would work for the recommendations on Solveeczema.org, some that wouldn’t.

The role of surfactant in asthma

I’ve gotten much feedback over the years that the changes described in Solveeczema.org do more than help eliminate eczema for certain people, they help reduce or eliminate asthma, even in atopic family members who do not have eczema.  I’m not going to do too much analysis here, I’m going to let this article speak for itself:  The role of surfactant in asthma .  I haven’t yet looked for more recent research, but I feel like I’ve hit a gold mine.

We humans make surfactant essential for the proper function of our airway lining.  What happens when stronger, artificial surfactants are introduced with other inhaled substances, such as dust?

Listen to this:  “…sputum samples from patients with asthma have a low surface activity.”

And, “Interestingly, a washing procedure [of the airways ] with saline … restored surfactant function.”

I’m not drawing conclusions, but this is very, very interesting.

A letter from Canada

I received this letter recently from a mom in Ontario, Canada.  She has kindly offered before and after photos, which I will post with the letter on the solveeczema site as part of upcoming revisions.  Thank you, S. Mason, for allowing me to share your experience:

Hi There,
My daughter was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis when she was a year old.  She started with rashes after I weaned her from breastfeeding.

My pediatrican wasnt overly concerned and told me that she’d grow out of it.  In fact, it got worse and worse.  She developed MRSA skin infections and children would point at my daughter and say “ewwww”…She was denied access from places because they thought she was contagious.  Nights were the worse, the intense itchiness was causing my daughter psychological stress, she would hit herself and screamed begging me to make the itchiness stop.  She had a behavior log at school because she was rolling around the floor constantly and wont sit at her desk. My daughter never had “flare-ups”; rather it was constant.  no breaks. ever.

I did some research and decided to pursue allergy tests.  It was the beginning of a wild goose chase.  I was told to avoid soaps so I bought no-dye/no scent detergents and non-soap cleaners….

And I started a 4 year adventure into elimation diets, skin prick tests, blood tests, naturopaths, pediatric dermatologist, allergists and pediatricans. Pills, antibotics, oral steroids, cordiosteroids, probiotics, flaxseed oils, krill oil, hemp oil, apple cider vinegar, chinese medicine, teas, 1000 dollars worth of OTC creams, lotions. No nuts, no fish, no eggs, no soy, no dairy, no sugar, no fish diets.

All medical professionals were well-meaning and concerned but NONE of them suggested that my daughter might benefit from removing all surfactants/detergents.

I stumbled onto your site and decided to give it a try.  I put my detergents aside and washed her bedsheets, pillows and pjs with just borax and baking soda.

We had our first night of no-itchiness in years.  It was the first morning that her skin wasnt raw.  Since then, I’ve started the process of transitioning to a NO-detergent household to only natural soap products.  I am still in shock at how immediate and obvious the source of her dermatitis is. I also feel guilty for not trying it before but I was always believed it was a food-related or just a genetic condition.

thank you from the bottom of my heart.  oh, I have before and after pictures, taken only a few weeks apart.