Category Archives: Eczema

New UK research suggests that stress before conception can increase the risk of eczema in children. A first-of-its-kind study that links maternal stress before conception with the risk of atopic eczema in future children has been carried out by the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton in the UK. For the research, the study assessed the stress levels of women recruited to the Southampton Womens Survey before they were pregnant. Participants were asked to report how stressed they were in their daily lives with a sub-group also asked about their psychological wellbeing. Around 3,000 babies were born to women taking part in the survey, who were then assessed for eczema at the ages of six months and 12 months. The researchers say maternal stress can release certain hormones that can have an effect on the babys immune response. (Shutterstock) The results showed that more than one in six women reported that stress affected their health quite a lot or extremely before falling pregnant, with the analysis showing that the infants of these mothers had a 20% higher likelihood of developing atopic eczema at age 12 months when compared with the children of other participants. The results also … Continue reading →

Everyone has bad days. But usually online, we only see peoples good ones. However, we all know thats not reality and thats precisely the inspiring message from Carys Gray, a fitness blogger whos being praised after sharing an honest makeup-free photo of herself during an eczema flareup. MODEL'S AMAZING JOURNEY FROM PREGNANT TO 6-PACK Gray, who has more than 148,000 followers on the social media platform, shows two photos of herself in the viral image: one with her eczema under control and makeup on her face, and another with her eczema flared up and her face makeup-free. Social media/Instagram will show the good days, Gray wrote in part in the now viral post, which had garnered over 80,000 likes as of Tueday afternoon. But here's a reminder that next time you see something on social media that you think is 'goals' that it's not the full story, it's not how that person will look or be alllllll the time! Eczema, or atopic dermatitis, is a chronic skin condition that causes redness and itchiness, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can occur at any age, and it does not have a cure. THIS FIT MOM DROPPED 6 DRESS SIZES BY LOSING … Continue reading →

Cultivating 'friendly' bacteria from people's skin makes it possible to develop personalised lotions to treat skin conditions like eczema, a new study shows. It's the latest evidence that beneficial bacteria in our microbiome can be used to treat infections spurred by harmful microbes, and could provide a new direction in antibiotics research: something we desperately need, in light of rising antimicrobial resistance. While everybody's skin is populated with a mixture of healthy and harmful bacteria, the ratio of good to bad isn't always the same. This imbalance could help to explain why some people have conditions like atopic dermatitis (AD) the most common form of eczema, which produces inflamed and irritated skin, and affects almost 18 million Americans. "People with this type of eczema, for some reason that's not quite known yet, have a lot of bacteria on the skin, but it's the wrong type of bacteria," dermatologist Richard Gallo from UC San Diego told the Associated Press. "They're not producing the antimicrobials they need." To find out about the makeup of these bacteria populations, Gallo and his team examined skin culture swabs taken from 30 healthy people and 49 subjects with AD. After screening thousands of colonies of bacteria, … Continue reading →

February 28, 2017 Womens stress levels before pregnancy could influence risk of eczema in child. Credit: University of Southampton Infants whose mothers who felt stressed before they fell pregnant had a higher risk of eczema at age 12 months, new Southampton research has shown. The study from the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, is the first to link preconception maternal stress to the risk of atopic eczema in the child. The researchers believe the findings support the concept that eczema partly originates as a baby develops in the womb and could reveal ways of reducing the risk of the skin condition. The research, published in Clinical and Experimental Allergy, assessed the stress levels of women recruited to the Southampton Women's Survey before they were pregnant. They were asked to report how stressed they were in their daily lives. A sub-group were asked about their psychological wellbeing. Around 3,000 babies born into the Survey were then assessed for eczema at ages six and 12 months. Dr Sarah El-Heis, the study's lead researcher from the University of Southampton, comments: "We know that maternal stress can release certain hormones that can have an effect on the baby's immune response, … Continue reading →

Teruaki Nakatsuji and Richard Gallo from the University of California, San Diego, have discovered that some bacteria which naturally live on human skin produce chemicals that kill S. aureus[a bacterium that can cause severe skin infections]. [The duo then] went after the bacteria themselvesisolating them from people with a skin disease called atopic dermatitis (eczema), growing them, and adding them to a cream. The result: a personalized ointment for killing S. aureusand hopefully treating eczemausing bacteria that come from a persons own skin. The team focused on one [type of bacterium]a strain of S. hominis called A9Strain A9 produces several new antibiotics that seem to specifically suppress the growth of S. aureus, including the drug-resistant versions that we know as MRSA. Protective staph strains like A9 dominate the skins of healthy people, buteven in people with eczema, the protective strains arent totally absent. Theyre still there. So what happens if you give them a boost? As expected, the levels of S. aureus fell by more than 90 percent. In two cases, the troublesome microbe disappeared entirely. Its a big step towards using microbial therapies to treat skin disease, says Shruti Naik, from Rockerfeller University. The GLP aggregated and excerpted this … Continue reading →

Looking to find the most effective probiotics? You may need to look no further than your own body. This approach is inherently superior to current pharmaceutically derived antibiotics, the authors conclude. Unlike bottled antibiotics that may kill microbes indiscriminatelyfriends or foesthe patients skin bacteria selectively killed off harmful S. aureus and left the protective community intact. The researchers, led by dermatologist Richard Gallo of the University of California, San Diego, developed the treatment approach by first noting that people with healthy skin have a bunch of normal skin bacteria that seemed to keep S. aureus in check. But on people with atopic dermatitis (AD)a type of eczema that results in dry, itchy patches of skinthose helpful skin bacteria are less abundant. This squares with what the dermatologists already knew: people with AD are more likely to carry around S. aureus, which can spur and exacerbate those itchy, dry skin patches. When the researchers took a closer look at those beneficial bacteria S. epidermidis and S. hoministhey found that the microbes were oozing out antimicrobial compounds that selectively kill S. aureus. The chemicals were strong enough to fight off even the dastardly Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). And when those compounds mixed … Continue reading →

A picture says a thousand words, but onsocial media, they dont always tell the whole story. Gray posted two side-by-side photos on of her face last week, calling the post a reality check. The first image, she wrote, ishow you see me when my eczema is under control, Ive done my makeup and Im feeling sassy. The second, she said, was taken when my eczema isnt under control, its very blotchy, sore and I cant wear any makeup. Gray acknowledged that social media is a great way to show the good parts of people and their lives, but she wanted to use this image to remind her 139,000 followers that what you see on social media is not the full story, its not how that person will look or be alllllll the time! Indeed. Eczema is common skin condition that affects over 30 million Americans. Symptoms can include redness, itching, inflammation, oozing and swelling of the skin. Promising trialsshow that relief may be on the way for some, and there are dermatologist-approved remediesand productsthat help people with eczema cope. Still, theres currently no cure. The condition is still a big insecurity for Gray, she admits, but she said shes learning … Continue reading →

share pin email We all know that social media is not real life, but it's so easy to start comparing yourself to all of the flawless images out there. Well, one Instagram fitness star wants you to know she doesn't always look so #nofilter perfect. Carys Gray, 20, is a fitness blogger and student from Cardiff, Wales in the United Kingdom. She regularly posts gorgeous, empowering photos of her toned physique on her Instagram page, where she has more than 140,000 followers. Recently, Gray shared a very personal photo about her ongoing struggles with eczema, a condition that can cause inflamed and itchy skin. Gray posted two side-by-side photos of herself, one labeled social media and one labeled reality. On the left, Gray looks like she often appears in her social media posts, with smooth, clear skin. On the right, she looks just as beautiful, but has some red blotches across her cheeks and forehead. RELATED: Why sleeping on your side is a bad idea and other dermatologist skin secrets Slightly different #REALITYCHECK today! Gray wrote in the caption. We all have good days and we all have bad days. I have a skin condition called eczema and sometimes my … Continue reading →

Fit blogger Carys Gray recently hopped on board the body-positivity train, showing what it's really like to live with eczema. The founder of Busybee Booty Building Guide shared the refreshingly honest reality check to debunk myths about the seemingly perfect and flawless skin you see on social media every day. In a side-by-side comparison on Instagram, Gray shows what her skin looks like most days with makeup, but also what it can look like naturally. "We all have good days and we all have bad days," she writes. "I have a skin condition called eczema and sometimes my skin is happy as Larry and sometimes it has flare ups." Eczema affects more than 31 million Americans, yet it's not often discussed and is highly stigmatized. That is why it's so awesome for young people with far-reaching influence like Gray to speak openly about it and raise awareness. (Check out these natural eczema remedies you haven't tried yet.) "Social media/Instagram will show the good days....the good parts of people and their lives and that's ok," she continues. "But here's a reminder that next time you see something on social media that you think is 'goals' that it's not the full story, … Continue reading →

(Picture: Instagram/busybeefitness) Weve said it before, and well keep saying it until it sinks in: the photos you see on Instagram are rarely reflective of reality. The fitness bloggers showing off their abs are perfectly posed in flattering lighting. The weight loss transformations are easily faked with a few clever tricks. Peoples skin isnt always that smooth, their thighs are not always that thin, and their waist is not always that tiny. Stop comparing your body to a filtered snapshot of someone elses. That extends beyond filtering, to be clear. Instagrammers rarely show off the less perfectly happy bits of their life, whether its the times when theyre not in a good mood, the parts of their body they dont like, or the health conditions they dont mention. Which is why well always applaud someone who makes an effort to keep it real. Carys Gray is a fitness blogger with more than 145,000 followers on Instagram. Shes super fit, and the majority of her feed is selfies of her bod looking super toned. But last week Carys tried something a little different. She shared two photos side by side, one showing how she appears on social media, with makeup and … Continue reading →