Hi

My husband has  a skin problem and no one has been able to help him with it.  I am going to get him to try going vegan for 6 weeks to see if that will help.  We are vegetarians who eat fish so I don't think it will be too much of a stretch to try it.  I keep saying that it is something that I want to do but never get round to it.  My husband rarely eats dairy though so I am not sure if the veganism will make much of a difference.

Has a switch to veganism helped anyone with skin problems?  Thanks :)

I have a small bit of eczema on my of my calves. I have only had it since being vegan. Haven't worked out what's causing it - it doesn't bother me too much.

I have eczema myself and I have only been a vegan for 3 weeks and I have seen a fairly dramatic difference. Usually around this time of the winter is the worst for me. Its dry and cold, then the next day it warms up and there are still cold winds, it reeks havoc on your skin. My eczema is no where near as bad as it usually is this time of year. I have also found an aveeno body wash, don't use incredibly hot water in the shower, and lotion the problems areas immediately after towel drying yourself after getting out of the shower. I would like to keep updated if you would not mind on how your husband progresses. Hope it does well

I've had what they call a "mild" case of eczema, for about 8yrs now. (It didn't feel so "mild" during a flare-up!)  I'm more prone to breakouts in summer season when theres extreme heat. One of the reasons I went veg was to see if it made a difference at all and I gotta say it HAS.  I've been doing this for about a year now and honestly, I forget I have it. It feels weird even saying out loud " I have eczema" simply because I don't have any outbreaks. I have had an occasional minor irritance but usually nothing a little moisturizer won't cure :)    So I'd say yes, it is worth a shot.

Good Luck!

If you are having issues with skin problems check out www.elementstrois.com they make AMAZING skin and body products. Their stuff is all natural and they make it by hand. Their soaps are vegan and they definately do not do any animal testing! It is a small family owned company from around the area that I live in. They ship stuff all over though. I use just about all of their products but the best one for psoriasis/eczema would be their "The Good Oils." Hopefully you find something that helps :-)

A friend of mine was just raving about a product called Just Soap (produced by bicycle power!!) that completely cleared up her sons eczema within a week of use.  www.justsoap.com

I've had pretty sever eczema for many years.  My hands crack open and ooze so severely I have had to call in to work.  Its as if battery acid was poured on my hands.  The one and only time I have cured myself was when I went on an anti candida diet, eating only rice and a few veggies for many months.  I have it under control now with my kind diet, eating a vegan, mostly raw, anti candida diet (no ferments, etc...) but I believe my gut health, ie, leaky gut and candida has a lot of healing to do before I cure it again.  Y'all may want to come over to the candida thread.  Also, you probably want to do an elimination diet to weed out allergens.  Soy, corn, and wheat are the biggies.  PCRM's website will give you good info about a rotation diet.  

I just finished reading the book: "Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself" by Alejandro Junger.  It it he talks about eczema and if I remember right he thinks it is related to an allergy.  I know mainstream doctors relate it to stress.

I have always been against birth control because I don't believe in putting chemicals into my body, but, I caved due to my doctor's advice (I got really bad cramps) and my birth control resulted in my entire body breaking out into hives. I had red, itchy welts all over my stomach. I suggested that it may be due to my birth control but my doctor told me I saw wrong. Well, I suffered with hives for about 3 months until I went off the pill on my own. Luckily, my hives went away, but I have developed eczema in some places on my body. I have read online that this sometimes happens. This just shows that if you put something into your body that it doesn't like, it will react in its own way

I have it occasionally on my legs - from the knees down (weird).  Anyways, I have kept it under control with eating lots of greens, raw foods with some cooked foods.  I also only use natural soaps (no dove or any of those chemicals).  I also dry brush before showering and then apply natural lotion and sweet almond oil (again, no chemicals) after showering. It may take some trial and error finding the right balance of diet and lotions, etc...I found what works for me and I hope you do to...itching sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!

I forgot to mention adding omega 3's - I use flax seed oil and add it to my salads in the afternoon...I have seen an improvement in my skin overall.

Nicole, bc pills cause candida which causes eczema.  Have you looked into this?

Dairy is the most common culprit but almost any food or ingredient can cause a reaction. Other things to consider cutting from the diet temporarily are nightshades (tomato, potato, eggplant and peppers) soy, gluten or nuts.  A couple weeks without the offending food often makes a noticeable difference (it stops itching and begins to clear up).

To keep it away avoid all exposures to the offender. Remember, even healthy foods can cause reactions like these.

Both are common in my family with the women. Mostly it's " eczema " and I was just diagnosed with it myself last winter.

I suffer from psoriasis, have since I was eight years old. I have followed a vegan diet for around four months now, and it feels great; I do not miss meat or dairy at all! Though the flare ups have subsided, it has not cleared up completely. I read that gluten has been linked to psoriasis, has anyone else?

Absolutely, Cynthia.  Even if we don't test as allergic to gluten, or celiacs, we can still be sensitive to it.  With skin conditions we need to repair our immune system which lies largely in our gut, the lining of our intestinal wall.  If we aren't elimination toxins properly from our intestines, our livers become overloaded and our skin takes over to pick up the slack.  We need to rebuild the health of our gut, and eliminate foods that are sending a signal to our immune system to calm the sucker down and just give our poor toxic bodies a break.  After a period of time we can add certain foods back in to see how we react and to figure out what offends us.  You probably have already read all about this, just thought I'd spell it out in case someone here has not. I'm going through the ordeal myself at the time.