Several years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter, I developed this rash on the back of my neck.  I never knew what it was and just assumed it had something to do with necklaces that I wore.  Later on, I found out it was eczema and as a result I was on prescription meds to control the inflammation and itching.  Back then, I didn’t care that the medication was a steroid, so long as it worked!  However, in the last year or two, I’ve been trying to use the least amount of meds as possible.

Earlier this year I did some research on other alternatives to controlling my eczema.  In addition to my neck, I developed a rash on my inner elbow.  Here are the three steps I took to control it:

1.)  Coconut Oil – this oil is amazing.  I use it daily all over my body as a moisturizer.  It works better than any body lotion I’ve ever used.  I use Organic Unrefined Coconut oil by Jarrows.  Applying this to my eczema instantly calms down the inflammation and relieves the itching.  When I applied this daily, I rarely had breakouts.

2.)  Amlactin Lotion:  Now that I had the inflammation and itching under control, I needed something to smooth out the patches.  I’ve talked about this lotion before and how it helps exfoliate the skin to keep it smooth.  Of course I got to thinking and figured it could smooth out my patches.  Every night I applied this on my neck and inner elbow.  It does sting a bit when first applied, but it’s nothing thats unbearable.  After a few days, I’d say less than one week, the patches were completely smooth.  No more rough looking skin.  Eventually, after a couple of weeks of use, the discoloration began to lighten.  Killing two birds with one stone!

3.  Fish Oil pills – it’s pretty simple.  Eczema is an inflammatory condition.  Fish oil pills contain a fatty acid called EPA.  EPA is an anti-inflammatory acid, meaning it works by reducing inflammation.  I take a fish oil supplement every evening with dinner and I believe it’s one of the reasons why I haven’t has any flare-ups in almost one year!  Just be ware that all fish oil pills are not the same.  Always check to see how much EPA and it’s buddy DHA are included in your pills.  EPA and DHA should have a total of at least 500mg.  A lot of pills out there are just a bunch of fillers.

Here is a before pic of my eczema:

And here we are a few months later:

Again, the itching, inflammation and smoothing happens almost instantly.  It’s the lightening that takes a while.