In this issue, I'd like to talk about skin care to prevent allergies such as eczema.
I have a certain amount of knowledge about skin care from my experience selling cosmetics, but to be honest, there is no clear answer to allergy prevention.
When your skin is not moisturized enough due to allergic diseases, you can apply skin care creams, but it's hard to feel that it works! However, it is difficult to feel that they work.In this study, we investigate the effects of skin care on eczema and food allergies in babies.
The study
This is a review of studies that have investigated how skin care for babies affects their risk of developing eczema and food allergies.
The skincare practices used in these studies were
Apply moisturizer to the baby.
Bathing babies in water that contains moisturizers or moisturizing oils.
Advise parents to use less soap or bathe their children less often.
It was also investigated whether these skin care treatments cause undesirable effects.
The study was based on a review of 33 studies involving 25,827 infants.
These studies were conducted in Europe, Australia, Japan, and the United States, mostly at children's hospitals.
Skin care was compared to no skin care or usual care (standard care).
Treatment and follow-up periods ranged from 24 hours to two years.
Many of the studies tested the use of moisturizers.
Other studies tested the use of bathing and cleansing products and the frequency with which they were used.
The results of 11 studies were combined.
Eight infants who were considered at high risk of developing eczema and food allergies were included in the study.
Compared to skincare and no skincare
The risk of developing eczema may not change by 1-2 years of age, or by the time required for the onset of eczema.Parents report that the number of immediate allergenic reactions to common foods after two years may be slightly increased.
May cause more skin infections.
May increase undesirable effects such as stinging sensations and allergic reactions to moisturizers.
The baby may be more likely to slip and fall.
It is not known whether skincare treatments affect the likelihood of developing food allergies as assessed by sensitivity to food allergens at 1-2 years of age.
Reviewer's conclusion
Skin care interventions such as skin softeners during the first year of life in healthy infants are probably ineffective in preventing eczema and probably increase the risk of skin infections. The effect of skin care interventions on the risk of food allergy is uncertain.
More work is needed to understand whether different approaches to infant skin care may promote or prevent eczema, and to assess their impact on food allergy based on robust outcome assessments.
Kelleher MM, Cro S, Cornelius V, Lodrup Carlsen KC, Skjerven HO, Rehbinder EM, Lowe AJ, Dissanayake E, Shimojo N, Yonezawa K, Ohya Y, Yamamoto-Hanada K, Morita K, Axon E, Surber C, Cork M, Cooke A, Tran L, Van Vogt E, Schmitt J, Weidinger S, McClanahan D, Simpson E, Duley L, Askie LM, Chalmers JR, Williams HC, Boyle RJ. Skin care interventions in infants for preventing eczema and food allergy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD013534. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013534.pub2.
Conclusion
The reactions to food allergies were of unclear relevance, but with regard to skin problems, there was a suggestion that they may be exacerbated.
Although there are not that many types of skin care products, there are descriptions of skin care in many parenting books.
I don't mean to sound alarm bells, but we need to reconsider the possibility that careless skin care may be causing skin problems. It may be necessary to reconsider this.There is such a thing as human homeostasis, so you might want to think twice about using it for anything other than skin problems caused by some disease or other.
This is unrelated, but I myself had skin problems and relied on a lot of skin care products, but after a certain point, I stopped using them and my skin got better.
I think I was washing too much with detergents.
