Eczema Prevention
There are several different types of eczema, and there are very few people around that can tell you how to cure them. Science and research will lead us to answers about a cure for the disease and a better understanding of what causes the symptoms to find a sound way of prevention.
Until a cure is found there are some very basic guidelines and latest advice that health experts offer that may help to prevent future flare-ups.
Finding relief from the many types of eczemas may require key lifestyle changes. These may not necessarily be an eczema cure, but they can help to prevent flare-ups.

Contact with irritants and allergens
Everything you come in contact with daily should be considered a potential risk for an eczema flare-up. We overlook everyday substances as threats to our eczema.
Some common things that are often overlooked:
• Scented soaps
• Laundry detergents
• Fabric softeners
• Cleaning products for your bathroom
• Cleaning products for your kitchen
• Cleaning products for anything
• Even water can be a potential irritant
Focusing on cleaning products such as soaps and detergents because they are the most common chemicals that will be contacting your skin.
Soaps
Soaps can and often are overlooked, take for example washing your hands. If you can smell some type of fragrance after rising your hands (are they really clean)? No, your skin has been covered by a thin layer of perfume or some other foreign residue. This layer of scent or residue can sometimes and often be the culprit for common skin irritations. Products that leave residue also tend to dry your skin. The residue layer does not contain any moisture retaining properties, and will have a (Dry Clay Effect) to the surface of your skin. These micro-cracks help to expose underlying layers of tissue, that are prone to being sensitive, cause them to dry and then become irritated. This can often lead into the early stages of an eczema flare up.
Soaps that leave no residue can effectively clean skin and remove themselves, this is important because any residue left by a soap leaves a potential for irritation from dryness or from the chemical residue itself. Some cases have found that the residue free soaps may dry the skin also by removing any natural oils produced by the skin. Natural Oils produced by the skin retain moisture and protect it against drying out. The Oils from the skin should be replaced by some type of moisturizer, or emollient, simple wax creams work great for moisture retention on the thick skins of the body. Water based moisturizers tend to dry out and can become a vicious circle of application and reapplication which is potentially irritating to sensitive skin so they should be avoided.
Laundry Detergents
Laundry detergent can be a problem for everyone; most people are living with daily irritations caused by their current brand of laundry detergent. Just from the overwhelming scent alone people suffer from respiratory and allergy symptoms. This is quite obvious just by walking through the detergent section at your local grocery store. If you get a headache or find that the scent is a bit irritating, you are also very likely to be suffering from the long term effects of exposure. There are a few a brands of detergent that are unscented, which is a good start to resolving some issues at least with the airborne allergens.
Because your clothes are in constant contact with your skin it is important to be sure that there is nothing in them that can cause irritation. Cotton has been the recommended fabric for people with skin disorders hands down. If irritations are coming from your clothes it may be because of your current detergent.
Regular Laundry Detergents leave a residue in your clothes each time they are washed. After eight washings (two percent of a garments weight is from this detergent residue). Residue comes from anything in the detergent that will not rinse out of your clothes when washed. Fragrance and brightening agents are two perfect examples. If laundry smells like detergent, it is covered in a film of fragrance residue, likewise if laundry glows brightly under a backlight; it is cover in a film of UV (Ultra Violet) brightener or brightening agent.
Residue not only causes severe skin irritations but can also cause fabric to stiffen when it dries. Fabric softener is used to lubricate the fibers and make the fabric move freely again. Although it takes care of the itchy stiff fabric it only adds to the list of possible irritants found in clothing.
Laundry Detergent residue is potentially very harmful in athletic or active wear it is wore pressed tightly against the skin, like socks jerseys and underwear. These regions of the body can be the most sensitive and have the worst reactions. When perspiration contacts the residue covered fabric it reactivates the chemicals and they begin to irritate the skin. This is one reason that exercise is (Known to Cause Eczema Onsets).