If you suffer from dermatitis, you know how frustrating it can be to deal with itchiness, redness, and dryness. While there is no cure for dermatitis, there are some quick and easy natural remedies that can help to soothe your symptoms. Let's take a closer look at some of the simple home remedies for dermatitis.
Dermatitis is a skin condition ranging from red, crusty, scaly, itchy swollen, and oozing symptoms. Sometimes a simple allergy or similar sensitivity can be causing similar symptoms of dermatitis.
Therefore it is important to understand to first establish whether you have dermatitis or not and then use suitable home remedies.
Most dermatitis may recur in different parts of your body's skin. However, working on improving the immune system and using some natural home remedies can get rid of dermatitis completely forever.
It is also important to understand that there are many different types including Contact, Seborrheic, Perioral, and Atopic dermatitis to name a few.
When a substance comes into contact with your skin and causes rashes then it is called contact dermatitis. The rashes of contact dermatitis aren't contagious or life-threatening, but they can be very uncomfortable.
Another type of dermatitis is seborrheic, which generally affects your scalp. It causes scaly patches and dandruff. Seborrheic dermatitis may also appear on other oily parts of the body such as the face, upper chest, and back.
Your face generally gets affected by perioral dermatitis. It generally causes facial rash generally red and slightly scaly or bumpy around the mouth with mild itching or burning. It may occasionally spread up around the nose and the eyes.
Children mostly get affected by atopic dermatitis or eczema. This condition is long-lasting and painful. Remedies for each of these skin conditions are separately covered on this website.
7 Home Remedies for Dermatitis to Soothe Your Skin
Most dermatitis can be controlled but not cured by conventional methods. Following are 7 precautions and remedies for dermatitis.
1. Avoid Scratching
If you feel the itch, don’t scratch. You can rub the area gently with your fingertips. Scratching with fingernails can expose the inner layer of skin and cause a secondary infection. Trim your nails to avoid any subconscious scratching during the night. You can wear gloves during the night to completely be scratch-proof so to say.
Needless to mention that the skin rashes will be forcing you to scratch, therefore control becomes an important criterion to deal with dermatitis. Your fingers will subconsciously rush to the affected area as soon as an itching sensation is received by the brain.
Covering the affected area with normal bandages and dressings can help protect your skin and prevent scratching.
2. Practice Meditation
Stress has a significant impact on the skin. The healing process slows down even if you are applying medication to the affected dermatitis area. Meditation is a great way to relax and reduce your stress. If you don’t understand meditation just follow deep breathing for 10-15 minutes 5 times a day.
Deep breathing improves the oxygen supply to the cells. The skin cell gets the required blood circulation and the brain cells get activated. This reduces stress. So, use the power of meditation and deep breathing to get relief from your dermatitis.
You don't have to be the master of meditation. It is simple to do. Follow the instructions given below.
Sit in a comfortable position on the ground or on a chair. Keep your back straight and chin up. Breathe slowly but deeply. Take your time to inhale. When you exhale take a little more time than inhalation time.
Exhaling for a longer time gets rid of all the toxins and helps fresh oxygen circulation in the blood which nourishes all cells and your skin.
3. Be Cautious in Selecting Laundry Detergent
If not the cause, the laundry detergents can be one major catalyst to irrupt contact dermatitis. Certain skins are allergic to the chemicals used in detergents. If you feel that is the case with your skin, then change your detergent brand, or use milder detergents.
Don’t use scented laundry products at all. Most fabric softeners can cause dermatitis rashes on sensitive skin.
Traces of laundry products on the clothes, sheets, and towels irritate your skin by touch.
There are many different ways to deal with dermatitis. The first step obviously is to avoid the circumstances that are leading to building up the rashes. Equally important are the precautions, particularly avoiding those conditions that aggravate the rashes.
Assuming that you have already taken the precautions for dermatitis to reduce rashes explained on the previous page, it is now time to look into some powerful home remedies to slowly but surely get rid of dermatitis completely.
4. Soothe your Skin with Oatmeal Bath
Add Baking soda or oatmeal to the warm water in your bathtub and soak yourself in the bath water. This will soothe dermatitis. Make sure that the water is not hot. It should be just warm enough to feel good. Stay in the bathtub for longer than usual. You can listen to soothing music, but make sure that you stay awake.
This is the time for relaxation. Keep your mind completely involved in the bath.
These types of baths also release stress. It acts as a double-edged sword on certain types of dermatitis by treating it both ways, one by soothing the skin externally with oatmeal, and the other by improving the immunity internally through stress reduction.
5. Apply Cool Compresses.
A wet cool compress helps a lot in reducing the itch as well as in promoting fast healing.
Cover the dermatitis-affected area with a cotton cloth filled with ice. If you feel too cold after some time then remove it for a few seconds and keep it back.
You can even wrap the affected area with cool wrap. Take a dressing cloth or bandage, immerse in ice-cold water and wrap around dermatitis affected area. The wet compress is very good for different types of rashes and eczema which is also a kind of dermatitis.
You can use both the above application for 15-30 minutes 3 times a day. Ice numbs the area and the feeling of itch reduces. Cool compress is one of the best remedies for getting relief from the itching caused by dermatitis.
6. Wear Cotton Clothing
Synthetic clothes can irritate the dermatitis-affected skin. Viscose and polyester don’t go well with certain types of skin. Avoid wearing such clothing. Move to cotton. Smooth-textured cotton clothing will not irritate the affected area.
Make sure you use loose clothes for the air to circulate. You will not only feel comfortable but your overall skin condition will significantly improve by wearing comfortable cotton clothes.
7. Moisturize Your Skin
Dry skin can lead to scaly dermatitis such as eczema. Regularly moisturizing the skin with oils or creams can help reduce the severity of atopic dermatitis.
Moisturizing creams can be your only treatment in certain types of milder cases of dermatitis.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, home remedies can be a helpful way to treat dermatitis. However, it is important to remember that everyone's skin is different and what works for one person may not work for another. If these remedies do not improve the condition of your skin, consult a doctor or dermatologist.