Eczema
Definition:

Eczema is an inflammatory skin disease--sometimes a rash with watery discharge or development of scales and crusts. [HHH p.68]

Symptoms:

The skin breaks out and itches with burning and stinging. Sometimes little pimples form which turn into water blisters. Usually the skin dries up into little scales and itches.

Cause:

1. Cleansing the Skin: The skin is a very important part of the body; it is an "extra kidney," an extra set of lungs for breathing, and has many other functions. We should keep it in a good condition, important as it is, but we usually treat it shamefully. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and the skin should be bathed daily. This does not mean to use soap with each bathing, unless it is a natural type biodegradable liquid soap. Nearly all bar soaps do more damage to the skin than they aid it, by leaving residue of the soap to clog the pores. The pores are the doors and windows of the temple and must be kept open to let in oxygen (the breath of life) and to excrete toxins and waste. [HHH p.68]

2. Diet and Use of Natural Fibers: A person who uses lots of mucus foods has a gluey, sticky type perspiration. When this individual sweats and the body is not cleaned regularly, the dried sweat clogs the pores. This is a beginning cause of dermatitis, or skin malfunction. In addition, as a nation we have fallen in love with easy to wash and iron synthetic clothes. These rob the body of the breath of life because manmade synthetic fibers do not "breathe." Only natural fibers such as cotton, wool, linen, silk, etc., can allow the skin to breathe properly. [HHH p.68]

3. Diet: These are two of our big problems; the third one is a diet devoid of wholesome foods. We use man's prepared materials, called food, that have been contaminated and processed, and in so many cases, should be classified as "junk food." All aids to fighting dermatitis work better and faster if we consider the first three things mentioned--bathe regularly, return to natural fibers to wear, and eat wholesome foods [HHH p.68]

Herbal Aids:

Poke Root: Use the liniment or the infusion as a wash, and drink internally. [SNH p.60] Formula for liniment and infusion. [SNH p.61]

See formula for skin afflictions using burdock root, yellow dock, yarrow and marshmallow. [SNH p.67]

See formula for skin afflictions for a decoction using burdock root, centaury, fumitory, yellow dock and cayenne. [SNH p.67]

See formula using garlic, glycerine and burdock seeds. [SNH p.102]

Sun: Helios-therapy on the skin is very important, as the sun is the Great Doctor of all times. But this therapy must always be done with caution because the sun (though being a healer) is like fire, which can either provide gentle warmth or it can burn a city down. The sun will help assist the body where medicinal aids, herbs and other procedures are slower. In many cases, it will help bring skin cancer to the surface; and various other skin problems (such as acne, eczema, etc.) are beneficially aided by bathing in the sun. The internal use of tea or other herbal aids are often an herbal wash before the sunbathing are congenial and excellent. [SNH p.502]

Chickweed or Plantain: For eczema and other skin problems, use a fomentation over the irritated area made with chickweed tea and/or plantain, burdock root, Oregon grape root, and echinacea--covered with plastic. Or bathe the area with the tea a number of times during the day. Chickweed or plantain ointment is a helpful aid for small outbreaks. Drink a cup of the tea two or three times or more a day. To each cup of the tea you drink add three to six drops of tincture of lobelia. [HHH p.68]

Walnut: A wonderful aid to help relieve cases of dermatitis is found in the walnut family, using black walnut hulls or leaves or bark (Juglans nigra), English walnut (Juglans regia), or butternut (Juglans cinerea). Treat the skin malfunctions the same as with number six. [HHH p.68]

Golden Seal: Take one ounce of powdered golden seal root and mix thoroughly with nine ounces of linseed oil. Use the medicinal linseed oil from the health food store or drug store; do not use linseed oil from the paint store or hardware store--apply freely, externally. Use as an oral aid white poplar bark (Populus tremutoides--also known as quaking aspen), one cup three times in a day. [HHH p.68]

Complete Tissue & Bone: Dr. Christopher's Bone, Flesh and Cartilage Formula:  For the most severe cases of skin diseases in the advanced stage, use a combination we have called Bone, Flesh and Cartilage combination, internally and externally. Repeat procedure. Make the tea, soak flannel, cotton, or any white material other than synthetic--never use synthetic--wrap fomentation (soaked cloth) around the malfunctioning area and cover with plastic or wax paper, leave on all night six days a week and for as many weeks as needed until relief appears. Then continue a week or two for severe cases. Drink one fourth cup of finished concentrated tea with three fourths cup of distilled water three times or more each day. [HHH p.68]

Itch Ointment:  This is made of chickweed herb and bees wax and oils. Excellent for eczema and/or other skin infections, sores, burning, itchy skin or genitals, swollen testes, acne, hives, also for ulceration of mouth and throat. This is a wonderful ointment. [HHH p.196]

See formula to make a liniment using peppermint, olive oil, menthol and camphor. [UW-Peppermint]

Plantain: For skin diseases that result in scrofula or eczema, use the tea internally as a blood cleanser and use the strong tea externally as a wash. If the skin is not oily, you can use the ointment topically to affected areas. [UW-Plantain]

Juices for Eczema: Carrot & cucumber. [NL 3-5]

Cabbage Leaves: Cabbage leaves applied to an infected wound, ulcer, or oozing eczema should be layered like roof shingles, allowing secretions to drain between the layers. [NL 4-12]

Tarragon: Soothing for eczema and scurvy. [NL 4-12]

Rash Ointment: Dr. Christopher's Healing Ointment:  Made of comfrey, marshmallow, marigold, bee's wax, and oils, this is an antiseptic to be used on lesions, eczema (dry), poison ivy, soothes inflamed surfaces, abrasions, burns, hemorrhoids, for bruises and swellings. Good to have on hand at all times. [HHH p.196]

Testimonials:

1. Complete Tissue & Bone cures skin problem worse than eczema: One day a lady came into my office in a frantic state of near hysteria. She told me that her fourteen-year-old daughter was at home and some neighbor ladies were with her, to keep her from doing harm to herself. That morning the mother had stopped her daughter from committing suicide. The girl, for several years, had a severe dermatitis that had baffled the family physician, dermatologists and allergy specialists. The skin problem was from the knees down to her feet, the arms from elbows down over the hands, and her neck and face were also covered with this dermatitis condition. The dermatologists said it was different from pityriasis, psoriasis, eczema, etc., and had no name for this thick, heavy scaling from which the girl was suffering. This young girl had become a recluse, refusing to go to school, church, parties, etc., and because of this terrible condition which was called "incurable" she was eating herself into an extremely oversized individual. The despair she was suffering was pushing her into a suicidal frame of mind.

I had never had such a case presented to me before and my "back was up against the wall." This was an emergency and I did not have the time to sit in a laboratory and figure out a combination to try on her. I offered a quick silent prayer for help and a formula came immediately to my mind. As it came I had the lady and her companion write it down. I told them to go to an herb shop or health food store and get the various herbs, mix them, and make a fomentation. She was to foment the legs, arms, neck and face areas, and also to have the daughter drink some of the tea. I felt confident enough to promise good results!

It was on a Tuesday morning that the mother had come to see me. On Friday the report came back that the scabs and scales had left the afflicted areas and the girl's skin had a good "healing glow" to it. The next message I received was six months later. The girl was now a choir leader at the school she had returned to, and she was again busy in church and social activities.

This particular group of herbs is one we called "bone, flesh and cartilage" formula. We found it would do many things besides skin problems. [NL 1-8]

2. Cabbage Leaves: A watchmaker suffered for a year with a painful eczema of both hands, preventing him from working. The lesions were acutely inflamed, and the fingernails were separating, about to fall off. Applications of cabbage leaves twice daily for a few days brought relief from pain, as clear fluid drained onto the dressing. With continued treatment healing took place within two months. [NL 4-12]

3. Newborn Cured of Eczema: At one of Dr. Christopher's lectures, a woman brought a bundle to the front, a little baby all wrapped up. She unwrapped the bundle, and as she did, eczema scalings flew up all around dusted Dr. Christopher's dark suit. The baby was simply covered with eczema; he described it as horrible to see. The family had adopted the baby six months previous, and it was entirely covered with the scaling, evidently from birth. The family had employed their usual doctor, a pediatrician, and a skin specialist, but no one could do a thing for the little sufferer.

Dr. Christopher told the mother to fill a bassinet with warm Chickweed tea and to bathe the baby, pouring the tea over the head that could not be submerged. The mother was also to give Chickweed tea internally, in small amounts.

Within just a matter of days, the baby began to improve, and after a week or two, the eczema disappeared completely, though the child had suffered with it so many months. [NL 6-5]

See Also:

Complete Tissue & Bone: Dr. Christopher's Bone, Flesh and Cartilage Formula
Complete Tissue & Bone Ointment: Dr. Christopher's Bone, Flesh and Cartilage Ointment
Itch Ointment: Dr. Christopher's Itch Ointment
Rash Ointment: Dr. Christopher's Healing Ointment
Skin Problems

"Natural Healing with Herbs for a Healthier You"