Skin applications to cure eczema may give temporary relief. If the exudation is suppressed, some other more serious disease may develop. The best way to deal with eczema is to cleanse the blood stream and the body.
The treatment should start with a fast on orange juice and water from five to ten days, depending on the severity and duration of the trouble. Juice fasting will help eliminate toxic waste from the body and lead to substantial improvement. In some cases, the condition may worsen in the beginning of the fast due to the increased elimination of waste matter through the skin. But as fasting continues, improvement will manifest itself.
Fruits, raw or steamed vegetables without salt, served with whole meal bread or chappatis may be taken after the juice fast. Coconut oil may be used instead of ghee. After a few days, curd and milk may be added to the diet. Carrot and must melon are particularly beneficial. The patients may thereafter gradually embark upon a well- balanced diet of three basic food groups namely, seeds, nuts and grains, vegetables and fruits.
A large proportion of the diet should consist of raw foods. Seeds and beans such as alfalfa, mung and soyabeans can be sprouted. This diet may be supplemented with cold-pressed vegetable oils, honey and yeast. Juice fasting may be repeated at intervals of two months or so, depending on the progress being made. In chronic and more difficult cases of eczema, the patient should fast at least once a week till he is cured.
The patient should avoid tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages and all condiments and highly flavoured dishes. He should also avoid sugar, white-flour products, denatured cereals like polished rice and pearled barley and tinned or bottled foods. He should eat only pure and wholesome foods.
Raw vegetables juices, especially carrot juice in combination with spinach juice, have proved highly beneficial in the treatment of eczema. The proportion considered helpful in this combination are carrot ten ounces and spinach six ounces to make sixteen ounces or one pint of juice.
The patient should get as much fresh air as possible. Restrictive clothing should not be worn. Two or three litres of water should be taken daily and the patient must bathe twice or thrice a day. The skin, with the exception of the parts affected with eczema, should be vigorously rubbed with the palms of the hands before taking a bath.
Coconut oil may be applied to the portion with eczema. It will help the skin to stay soft. Walking or jogging should be resorted to in order to activate the bowels. Sunbathing is also beneficial as it kills the harmful bacteria and should be resorted to early in the morning, in the first light of dawn. A light mudpack applied over the sites of the eczema is also helpful. The pack should be applied for an hour at a time. Repeat twice or thrice a day.
Eczema as a result of dyspepsia, gout or diabetes can be cured only after these diseases have been successfully treated. Children suffering from eczema due to insanitary bottle feeds can get relief if kept on fruit juices or water with a teaspoon of honey added.