19 April 2024
As a parent with a child with eczema, you’re constantly looking for the best possible ways to relieve symptoms and provide comfort to your little one. 2.4 million children in the UK suffer from the skin condition, so it’s very common, as is the question – should eczema be kept moist or dry?
Take your child to the GP with eczema, and the first thing they’re likely to prescribe you is an intense paraffin-based moisturising emollient cream, so the answer seems pretty clear. However, as you’ll find out by reading on, it’s not quite as simple as it appears at first glance.
Spoiler Alert: Skin Needs Hydration
While you don’t want your child’s eczema-prone skin to become dry, irritated and tighter, you don’t want it to become overly covered with moisturiser, either.
Yes, your skin needs to be hydrated, but the idea that emollient creams are the answer is somewhat off the mark. You see, healthy skin is able to regulate body temperature by adjusting moisture levels, so the true solution lies in helping the skin to regain this natural ability.
Emollient Creams Compound the Problem
When eczema appears, this ability is lost, as the skin receptors controlling hydration and temperature become dormant. Simply lathering thick moisturiser over the top might help regulate dry skin to feel softer again, but at the same time will also clog the skin’s pores.
This prevents them from being able to release moisture (sweat) to cool down body temperature and, more often, leads to a worsening of the problem as the paraffin creams tend to trap sweat beneath the cream and the already irritated skin.
This type of irritation is quite common when moisturiser is applied over eczema, particularly at night when body temperature increases by a fraction of a degree. Skin covered in thick emollient creams will appear more irritated in the morning because of the trapped sweat, which contains traces of ammonia, salt, and urea which soak into the already aggravated skin.
Speak to one of our Skin Experts Today and Start the Journey to a Happier Baby
HappySkin Garments Promote Healthy Skin Function
So, the key to treating your child’s eczema is doing what you can to restore their skin’s healthy function, allowing it to treat itself by dealing with the cause, which is to get those skin receptors to start working again and managing moisture.
HappySkin Garments have been created to address this problem, and our proprietary DreamSkin coating technology (that’s bonded to every one) is proven to reactivate the skin’s subdermal hydration-controlling receptors.
After just a few days of wearing our TENCEL/Cotton garments next to their skin, you’ll typically notice an improvement as it starts to recover. Our eczema clothing is super-soft too, so it’s something they’ll hardly even notice they’re wearing! So is it better to keep moist or dry is rather missing the point, as it just needs to be kept healthy and functioning naturally.
HappySkin - Helping Your Child's Skin to Heal
A Revolution in Child Eczema Care
Atopic dermatitis can make your child miserable, however, before you rush to your Doctor for traditional eczema treatments, consider what we’ve spoken about here today. We’re dedicated to helping children beat eczema, and our HappySkin garments represent the most innovative, gentlest and most effective option on the market today.
To find out more about us and how our amazing eczema garments work, please take a moment to browse our website. There you’ll find lots of information and our full range of products. Alternatively, to get in touch with us about anything else, give us a call on 01707 260 505, and we’ll do our utmost to assist you.
