Eczema
Causes and Symptoms: Eczema is an inflammatory skin disorder in which the cuticle is scaly and fissured with a sticky, watery discharge. There is also itching and pain over the affected part. It is more often called Dermatitis (inflammation of the skin) and is important because about 50% of the cases of skin disorders are either eczema or allied maladies.
Eczema in it acute from shows itself by redness and inflammation of the skin, the formation of minute vesicles and severe heat and irritation. If the vesicles rupture, a raw, moist surface is formed, from which a colourless discharge oozes, which forms crust,% when it accumulates on the skin. Eczema may be dry (with only a patch of thick, itchy skin) or weeping, in which case it oozes. The Indian systems of medicine believe it to be a disorder owing to impure blood and the homoeopaths believe it to be the result of what is known as psoriasis (the accumulation of poisons in the system). It is reasonable to assume that the disease is the result of the failure of the skin to eject the poisons from the pores through perspiration.
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Home remedies are better in case of eczema because modern medicine is known to have suppressed the disorder by the administration of strong drugs resulting in the patient falling a prey to more serious diseases. The following remedies should be tried in the first instance.
Remedies: Twenty grams each of the bark of Mango and Acacia trees should be boiled in about one litre of water and the vapours allowed to play upon the affected part. After this fomentation, they should be anointed with ghee. Or, Babchi should be powdered, mixed with Mustard Oil and applied like an ointment. Alternatively, the leaves of the Indian Butter Tree (Mahua) should be smeared with Sesame Oil, warmed over a fire and bandaged on the affected parts. They should be changed after three to four hours.
An easily digestible diet should be the mainstay of a patient's food. He should take care to see that no constipation or indigestion develops. The fluid intake of the patient must be three to four litres in the day so that his system is flushed. A naturopathic way is to rub the affected parts vigorously before bathing. Alternating a cold bath in a river and sunbathing to dry your skin also helps. Fruits and vegetables should be taken in larger quantities than flesh foods and refined articles. Carrots and musk melon are particularly beneficial in cases of eczema.
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