CAN MINDFULNESS
CURE ECZEMA?
By Shari Shallard
W
hen my friend — who I’ll call “D”
— started eating gluten-free crack-
ers, I was a little surprised. He’d
always been a bit of a crisps fanatic. “My new
dermatologist told me to stop eating wheat,”
D explained. “It’s for my dermatitis.”
D’s new dermatologist is a homeopathic doc-
tor. D made the switch because he wanted to
change up the two-decades-long journey he’s
been on since being diagnosed at 23 years old.
It’s a journey that’s included everything from
gentle creams to special shampoos to potent
prescriptions. D has had periodic success with
those treatments, but he’s never been com-
fortable with the perpetual stream of medi-
cation. “You’re afraid you’re going to mess
yourself up,” he said. “The antibiotics, the
cortisone — it’s absorbing into your body and
you don’t know how it’s going to affect you.”
D is not alone. Eczema — an umbrella term to
describe eight different conditions (atopic der-
matitis being the most common) that causes
ISSUE #05 | 2017 | SkinHealthMagazine.com 34