If you’ve been struggling with eczema for a long time, you probably know that many doctors say that eczema is incurable. I was told that my whole life, especially growing up. In fact, I can’t remember a doctor that didn’t tell me that my eczema would never be cured.
I left disappointed and crushed after every doctor’s appointment.
Inside, I knew that “there must be a way,” (even though I saw no way out).

This is me when I was filled with inflammation all over my face and eyes. The picture doesn’t do it justice – but it used to be more red and inflamed than this.
After over a decade of battling with eczema, I’m happy to tell you that there definitely is a cure.
And that starts from the inside out. 🙂
Why Doctors Can’t Cure Eczema
I’ve been reading Emily’s book called the “Eczema Cure,” and in it, she explains why dermatologists can’t cure eczema. The common conventional treatments for eczema include: steroid creams, cortisone creams, petroleum based lotions (non-steroid), antihistamines, and anti-itch medications.
These medications work with varying degrees of success, but for a large majority of people (especially if you’re reading this blog right now), it does not have a positive effect on eczema.
I know that for me (here’s my story if you haven’t read it yet), I used to lather on cortisone creams all over my face (around my eyes even!), arms, hands, stomach, legs – all over – and then take antihistamines and oral steroids to reduce the inflammation and swelling.
All to no avail. Nothing worked, sadly.
If you’re part of this cycle where you use medication to help your skin heal and the eczema flares again once you stop the medication – then this is not a long term solution; it’s only a short term band aid – but it can’t go on forever.
These treatments fail because the steroids and medication are doing what they do best – they suppress the inflammation, but not heal the inflammation, from within.
So what steroids for eczema work best?
There is none.
Steroids for eczema don’t resolve the reason why the rash is happening in the first place. Eczema (aka. Dermatitis) is a reflection of a deeper, internal imbalance, usually stemming from issues in the gut. When a dermatologist gives you creams and medicines to make the skin clear, the internal issues are not addressed.
In Emily’s book, “the Eczema Cure,” she writes that: “Using cortisone cream to fix eczema is a bit like painting a rickety house thatʼs about to fall down. It makes it look better, and you may feel better for a short period of time – but ultimately the underlying issues must be addressed.”
I’m about to give you a quick glimpse of some of her solutions on how to heal eczema.
So how do you heal eczema from the inside out?
First of all – as a holistic nutritionist, you’ll know that I’m all about healing diseases by looking at the body as a whole (and taking into account factors like emotions, stress, and lifestyle as well). Having used medications that didn’t work on me for so long, I like how Emily gives solid real life holistic solutions to help cure eczema naturally. I really believe that this is the right place to start.
I also want to emphasize that just because there are ways to heal eczema naturally from the inside out, there is no quick fix.
One question that my clients always ask me is “Why is the healing taking so long? Is it normal not to see results yet in one month?”
….Yes!
There’s no quick fix for eczema if you want lasting results. As Emily mentions in her book, eczema can be challenging, and it takes hard work to cure, but there are 4 actions you can commit to to help you to cure eczema naturally and become eczema-free.
I don’t usually review many books about eczema (I’ve only reviewed one other book!), as I haven’t found many people who are able to tackle it from a holistic perspective. But Emily’s book goes into details about action items that we can do to heal eczema naturally, and if you can commit to the four actions below, you’ll be on the road to living eczema-free.
Here are Emily’s 4 action items that she recommends in her book:
- Action 1: Identify and avoid eczema triggers – Emily teaches how to eliminate specific triggers (including environmental triggers, stress triggers, and dietary triggers), she lists ingredients to avoid, and how to use elimination diets to help your eczema.
- Action 2: Put out the fire – In Chinese medicine, nearly all eczema is seen as a manifestation of ʻDamp Heat.ʼ Other factors will also affect the skin condition, but the Damp Heat creates the itch, red, and oozing rash. To treat Damp Heat, you’ll need to clear heat and drain dampness while simultaneously addressing underlying conditions. Adding cooling, bitter foods to the diet will help.
- Action 3: Strengthen your defenses – Adding beneficial microorganisms to your body (like probiotics) and important nutrients like Vitamin D will boost your immune system.
- Action 4: Heal your eczema with real food – Emily provides fabulous information and recipes about bone broth, probiotic foods, dairy, and foods that help cleanse. I found the recipes to be well organized and easy to follow.
She also teaches what to do when newborns have eczema and what to do when breastfed babies get eczema. I would highly, highly recommend this self-help book for anyone suffering from the condition (and if you have any frequently asked questions – she also addresses this in her book).
And since I can’t go through everything that Emily teaches in her book, here’s more info on what you can learn in her book if you’re interested in reading it:
- The root cause of eczema
- How steroids and antibiotics contribute make eczema worse
- How to identify environmental and dietary trippers to avoid flareups
- How to heal eczema from the inside, which is causing the itchy, red and oozing rash that is so uncomfortable
- How to strengthen your immunity to help deal with the eczema
- The nutrients and supplements that your body needs to heal from eczema
- The importance of probiotic foods in your diet
- How dairy, food sensitivities, and allergens can affect your eczema
- How to detox gently with food
- And much more
I do hope to continue to share books that are high quality with you so you can all benefit from them. 🙂 Emily also had a daughter who had eczema and she wrote this book after she was able to help her! If you’re interested in reading purchasing or learning more about her book, you can click here.
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Biography
Abby is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist who helps clients achieve optimal health. She is passionate about seeing people use health and nutrition to transform lives. She hopes that her experiences and knowledge can help educate others on natural remedies that will help eczema. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube for more updates!
Hi Abby,
I’ve recently read the book “The Eczema Diet” by Karen Fischer. Actually I’m starting the diet she suggests today.
Have you ever read it? Would you recommend it?
Let’s hope this diet it’s going to help 🙂
Cheers,
Virginia
Hi Virginia!
Yes, I’ve definitely read her book before and it’s great! I don’t 100% completely agree with everything that she recommends in her diet, but she has some good concepts that she writes about. Please keep me posted on how the diet works out for you – I’d love to know!
Cheers,
Abby
What do you not agree with?
Cheers,
Virginia
Her top 2 suggestions of foods to eat are banana and papaya – but most eczema sufferers have issues with sugar. Many eczema sufferers also get worse if they eat too much fruit (which is basically sugar), so I don’t completely agree with it. She also encourages potato, which is a nightshade vegetable, which lots of eczema sufferers are sensitive to.
Hi Abby, I just clicked over from Itchy Little World and subscribed for email updates from your website. Love the video you made at the top of the page!
Three of my four children have really struggled with eczema. I’ve had two children with eczema as little babies in spite of being exclusively breastfed. For one of my children milk was the only culprit. He had huge oozing patches on his cheeks as a baby, as he got older both legs were completely covered – there was no normal skin to be seen. His itching would keep his brother up at night. After removing milk the eczema completely disappeared within weeks.
For my two year old child we are still sleuthing. So far we know for sure that milk is bad (I wrote about our experience with diaper rash on my blog), soy, and also a contact allergy to coconut. We’ve seen a really big improvement but not totally gone yet so I’m sure we have more to learn. Coconut derivatives are in everything – soap, shampoo, lotions, laundry detergent, vitamins. We’ve even found coconut in juice.
Hi Amy! Nice to meet you – thanks for stopping by my site! 🙂 It must be tough with 3 out of your 4 children having eczema – but it’s amazing how you’ve discovered that diet makes a difference! I’m glad you were able to figure out that coconut affects your 2 year old. I hope they’ll eventually be able to grow out of it 🙂 Definitely keeping them away from their allergies and sensitivities really helps! I look forward to reading your blog!
P.S. I tried to comment on your blog posts on your site – but none of my comments were going through! (I tried a few times).
Going to invest in a copy of this book! I know once I have recovered from the damage using steroid creams, I will need to address the underlying causes. One of my children has eczema on her hands every winter and I really want to cure her of this.
Awww – yes this book will definitely help a lot! It’s very resourceful with lots of useful information 🙂
I do not have access to a computer, so I cannot purchase the ebook. Does the book come in hard cover? I am sure there are other people who would like to have a hard cover book. Also, I am a strict vegan, following a whole food macrobiotic diet. Does this book recommend animal foods? I hope not!