Why is living steroid-free with psoriasis and eczema so important, and what steps can you take to start your journey? We will answer this and more in this learn article.
Steroids from the first prescription.
Steroid creams are the go-to prescription when you go to a doctor when treating psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis, even for mild cases.
A flare-up can be all consuming, both physically and emotionally, all you want is to get rid of it as quickly as possible.
Steroid creams have damaging side effects and can only reduce the symptoms of a flare-up, they don't prevent another flare-up, or make your skin healthy.
What you don't learn from a doctor
You cannot cure psoriasis, eczema or dermatitis. You might already know that.
But what you might not know is that treating flare-ups is not the most important thing to learn about your skin condition.
Learning about what makes your skin healthy, and what keeps it healthy, that is a much more important problem to solve.
“I tried Lanolia because I wanted to find a natural way to reduce (or even eliminate) my reliance on steroid creams” says Camille Grotenbreg who has dealt with eczema outbreaks since childhood. "I know I will have more flare-ups, now I know I don't need to rely on steroid creams to manage them."
3 tips for living steroid-free
1. Moisturise, moisturise, moisturise
Our number 1 top tip is a very simple one. Moisturising is daily routine that is essential to maintaining healthy skin when prone to psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis flare-ups.
Psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis are skin conditions which damage your skin barrier. The skin barrier is a layer of oils that functions as a physical barrier to the external environment and works to prevent loss of water from the skin.
Moisturising daily helps in three ways:
- Replenishing moisture loss. Your skin is loses moisture when your skin barrier is damaged. Unlike healthy skin, you need to replenish this moisture daily.
- Repairing your skin barrier. Your skin barrier is made of oils, moisturising helps to restore these natural oils and repair this skin barrier.
- Re-initiate your skin's repair sequence. To be able to trigger a repair sequence, and heal a flare-up, your skin needs to be moisturised.
2. Learn about your triggers
Psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis flare-ups are triggered by internal or external factors.
Each person has a different set of triggers, so learning about what you can change or avoid can help you to prevent flare-ups.
- Internal triggers can include stress, what you eat and drink, how much you exercise, whether you smoke and sensitivities to medication or infections.
- External triggers can be a reaction to a new detergent, synthetic fibres in your clothes, too little sunlight in the winter, humidity.
Allergy tests can be a very powerful tool in learning about what you are sensitive to.
3. Take short cool showers
It might be counter intuitive to think that showers dry out your skin.
Remember that your skin is protected by a layer of oils. Hot soapy water remove oils.
If you do want to take a bath, use it to soak in an oat-milk.
Use a cotton bag or old stocking and fill it with a cup of oat flakes and add it to your bath.
In the business of healthy skin
15 years ago we started helping our customers with a natural alternative to treating their skin condition with steroid creams.
We developed naturally effective skincare, and through our consistent care subscriptions we help our customers to regain and maintain healthy skin.
If you are interested in learning more about your skin condition, we would love to share our experience and knowledge. Click on the chat icon in the bottom right corner and start chatting with us.
Disclaimer
We don’t want you to believe that we are a miracle cure, or a replacement for steroid treatments when they are really needed. We just want to help educate people with skin conditions that steroid treatments are NOT the only solution for everyone. We have had enough experience with our customers to know that is the case.
Photo credits go to cottonbro from Pexels
