Epsom Salt and Eczema
Though, there is an unclear evidence of using Epsom salt bath for eczema to get rid of symptoms such as sunburn, itchy skin, Psoriasis and Acne. It’s being said that few epsom salt sprays including , warm water and essential oils can offer a relaxing and calming effect on your body. Apart from Epsom salt bath like oat meal bath for eczema, bleach bath , baking soda bath or apple cider vinegar bath for eczema can also help you.
As per National Eczema Association, it is recommended to soak yourselves in a bath with an immediate moisturizer application to the affected areas to lock in the moisture.
In this article, we will try to answer some of the common questions asked by users.
- Does Epsom salt help with eczema?
- Does a salt bath help eczema?
- Is Epsom salt good for itchy skin?
- What can I put in my bath to help eczema?
- Can Epsom Salts Help Eczema Symptoms?
- Is Epsom salt good for eczema?
- How To Treat Eczema Flare ups With Epsom Salts
- How to Prepare a Epsom salt bath?
- Can epsom salt bath be used for infants or children?
What is Epsom Salt?
Epsom salt is a “hydrated salt” made from magnesium and sulfate. Epsom salt has been widely used to treat eczema since ages. Also, it is considered as one of the best home remedies for treating ample amount of ailments, from sore muscles to skin irritation as well.
If you have eczema, you may find that these salt baths can do wonders for your skin as they can reduce dryness and flaking. As per the study, dead sea salts, which are also high in magnesium sulfate, promote hydration, skin barriers, and reduce inflammation.
The name comes from this natural remedy’s original source — natural springs near Epsom, England. It is known to have wound healing and anti inflammatory effects. Epsom salt is a magnesium and sulfate compound derived from distilled, mineral-rich water.
In any case, on the off chance that you have eczema, an irritation of the skin that produces red, irritable skin, you may find that Epsom salt spray is good for eczema, and that they reduce skin dryness and roughness. The most commonly used method is soaking yourselves in a tub of warm water mixed to few parts of epsom salts.
Uses Of Magnesium Salt Baths/Epsom Salt Baths
It is used in case of following conditions such as:
- Stress relief
- Muscle aches
- Increased insulin sensitivity
- Improved circulation
- Better nutrient absorption
- For Headache relief
- Speed up wound healing
- Respiratory illness
- For children to help mineral absorption
- Improve sleep
- For acne, eczema or other skin problems
- For joint pain relief
- To help relieve poison ivy or skin reactions
- Improve skin hydration
It has been in a list of essential medicines of WHO since past few years. So, now a big question that strikes our mind is that; Is Epsom salt good for eczema? The fact is, this salt is active in treating skin conditions and yes, eczema is one of those skin conditions so let’s dive deep into the post to know more about eczema treatments and various bath solutions for eczema.
We can use epsom magnesium salt for :
- Face cleaner
- Homemade skin mask
- Skin exfoliator
- Remove hairspray
- Hair volumizer
- Relaxing and sedative bath
- Foot soak
- Soak sprains and bruises
- Splinter remover
Epsom salt bath uses include skin care such as:
Homemade skin mask
- Apply to face for 15 minutes then rinse off. This is especially good for acne problems.
Foot Soak
- Soothe aches, remove odors and soften rough skin with a foot soak.
Skin exfoliate
- Massage handfuls of Epsom salt over your wet skin, starting with your feet and continuing up towards the face. Have a bath to rinse.
Remove excess oil from hair
- Epsom salt soaks up excess oil from your hair.
Volumizer For Hair & Scalp
- Work the warm mixture through your hair and leave on for 20 minutes. Rinse. This is also beneficial for our scalp.
Sprains and bruises
- Epsom salt will reduce the swelling of sprains and bruises
Blackheads
- Make a solution using water and epsom salt and gently remove the blackhead and then dab the area with an alcohol-based astringent.
General stress relief
- As the magnesium soaks into your body, it reverses the effects of stress on your body, replenishing magnesium levels, decreasing adrenaline, and producing serotonin.
Relieve gout pain and inflammation
Eye health
- Rinse your face with a solution of Epsom salt and warm water can help heal conjunctivitis and sties.
Detoxifying laxative
- Mix approximately two tsp. of Epsom salts in 1 cup of warm water until it dissolves, then drink. It can be used as an oral laxative to treat constipation, ease bowel movement and increase magnesium levels.
Is Epsom salt bath good for eczema?
Magnesium in Epsom salt helps lower stress and inflammation in our body; however, we don’t get enough magnesium in the body,
“Magnesium is a critical component in over 300 biocellular processes,” explains Dendy Engleman, MD, a dermatologist in NYC.
“We used to get plenty from our diets, but years of over-farming have lead to a dietary depletion. A great number of the population is deficient in magnesium, so we need to get it from external sources.”
It is a magnesium salt that supplies magnesium sulfate, and these magnesium salts can speed up skin barrier recovery. Its often noticed that in eczema, the top layer of the skin becomes porous due to the damage caused by microbes and toxins.
So, this changes the pH of the skin, which means that more toxins and microbes can enter the lower layers where they cause more irritation, inflammation and hypersensitive reactions.
Magnesium is known for its wound-healing and anti-inflammatory properties. It can help relax muscles, improve sleep quality, and reduce stress and anxiety. Stress alters the immune system’s ability to heal wounds and can overstimulate oil glands.
So, there is an excellent possibility that magnesium salt bath can heal the skin and get rid of eczema.
How Often Can Epsom Salts Be Used?
Occasional use of Epsom salts does not seem to be harmful. Many people found great results after using these salts but there does not seem to be many scientific references to its use.
There are a few cautions about using Epsom salts, however, and they are mostly for people with dry skin.
What Bath Salts or Dead Sea Salt Calms Eczema?
Here The most recommended Salts to calm eczema
- Ultra Epsom Premium Epsom Salt, Medium – 25 lb Bag
- Organic Eczema Soak Bath Therapy for Babies Kids Adults, 100% Natural Itch Relief Soothe Calm Relieve Dry or Itchy Skin, Oatmeal Dead Sea Salt Lavender Essential Oil Calendula Chamomile
- Minera Natural Dead Sea Salt, 5 lbs Bulk – Fine Grain
- Best Himalayan Salt Mix – Best Bath Salt – Energize & Detox
- Dead Sea Salt with Marigold Flowers Bucket 1000 gr
Where can you get Epsom salts?
It can be purchased from any grocery and drug stores. Besides having the ability to tackle skin issues like eczema, this salt has long been used to treat conditions like insomnia, constipation, and fibromyalgia.
Benefits Of Epsom Salt Bath For Eczema
People use Epsom salt baths as a home treatment for: Arthritis pain and swelling. When magnesium sulfate is absorbed through the skin, such as in a bath, it draws toxins from the body.
An Epsom salt bath is known to ease pain and relieve inflammation, making it beneficial in the treatment of sore muscles, bronchial asthma, and migraine .
Epsom salt has numerous health benefits and can help you to treat eczema symptoms in several ways. Let’s take a look on how to use it in order to get rid of the skin condition.
Anti – Inflammatory Properties:
It possesses anti-inflammatory properties due to its ability to influence inflammatory factors and immunological responses to antigen challenges.
It is significant as most of the symptoms of eczema are caused by hypersensitivity reactions so in response to these eczema allergens, the immune system produces a number of pro inflammatory factors but magnesium salts can block the release of such inflammatory factors.
Hence they are able to settle red and angry rashes, reducing the itch from all the inflammation. This helps put a stop to the itch-scratch cycle, and gives the skin a much-needed break from open wounds, so it gets a chance to heal.
Epsom salt can exert both local and systemic anti-inflammatory effects to reduce inflamed eczema/atopic dermatitis patches as well as relieve itching.
Detoxifying Properties of epsom salt:
The magnesium and sulfate in epsom salts are useful for the detoxification of your body. It acts as an alkalizing agent that can lower the blood toxicity. Having an immune system that can counter the actions of toxins is vital. That is what Epsom salt can provide you. The salt helps to restore the balance between acid and base in the body, which indirectly prepares the immune system to tackle any attack.
Magnesium saves the immune system the effort to counter the harmful effects of toxins. So, these toxins are an important cause of eczema. Once the body rightly identifies toxins as foreign substances, it mounts an immune reaction to remove them. Unfortunately, such immunological response involves pro-inflammatory cytokines and allergy-promoting antibodies such as the immunoglobulin, IgE.
These two ingredients in epsom salts can prevent the cascade of immune reactions that only end up promoting a cycle of eczema breakouts. Also, sulphates can flush out heavy metals from the body.
Dead Skin Cells Removal
It acts as an excellent cleanser and a perfect exfoliant. The salt helps to prevent the skin pores from clogging by removing dead cells. The cleansing action tends to improve the skin condition after a perfect salt bath . The magnesium in the epsom salt can speed up the skin recovery process after being breached.
As per the study published in 1999 in the Archives of Dermatological Research, a group of researchers found that magnesium salts speed up the recovery of the skin barrier after it was disrupted.
A group of hairless mice was used for the study and exposed their skins to 4 different magnesium salts for 12 minutes. This is the equivalent of taking an Epsom salt bath for humans.
In addition to confirming the positive effects of magnesium salts on the integrity of the skin, they also found that the addition of calcium salts in equal or lower portions to the magnesium salts improved the barrier recovery action.
These results suggest that both Epsom salt bath and mixed bath salts may be effective for restoring the skin barrier as well as for keeping out toxins and pathogens.
Anti-Microbial Properties
It is useful for eczema treatment. The hydrated salt is able to absorb moisture quickly. Also, in the primary state, magnesium sulfate is hygroscopic. That is, it is always looking for water molecules from the surrounding to transform into hydrated salt.
The magnesium salts can fight against pathogens that appear on the skin and this is possible due to its ability to reduce eczema and swelling on the skin surface. It doesn’t only have the capacity to prevent the spread but possess antimicrobial power that can completely heal eczema as well.
Balneotherapy
Balneotherapy is a treatment that uses bathing, mostly in mineral water of varying temperatures, to help with a variety of conditions. Balneotherapy has been used for ages to treat wider range of skin conditions. There are obvious reasons that bathing may help eczema, as soaking in water can improve the common symptoms of skin flakiness and dryness. So, in addition, soaking in warm or hot water improves blood flow to the skin, which can promote healing.
Try magnesium salt bath to see if you notice an improvement. It can’t hurt and will only soothe your skin. Just remember to moisturize all over your body after the bath to lock in the water and prevent your skin from drying out.
How to Prepare Epsom Salt bath?
As per a study published in February 2005 issue of the “International Journal of Dermatology” showed that skin roughness, hydration, and inflammation were improved in bath solutions of 5 percent Dead Sea salt compared to water-only baths. Prepare the epsom bath solution and you will feel the difference:
- Fill the bath tub with a lukewarm water
- Add 1 – 3 cups of the salt in your water. Use half a cup for children
- Mix the mixture well with the help of your hands
- Soak your body into the water or apply it on the affected part only. However, you need to soak for at least 10 to 40 minutes.
- After taking the bath, rinse your body then pat dry your skin gently with a clean towel.
- Follow with your favorite moisturizer or oil to lock in the moisture inside your skin.
Detox bath Using Epsom salt
The minerals in a detox bath help remove toxins from the body to improve your health, relieve stress, treat constipation, and assist with weight loss.
Epsom salt detox bath has one important benefit i.e Magnesium absorption. It is beneficial to people having fibromyalgia.
A study of 19 participants found that 17 of them had increased levels of magnesium and sulfate in the blood following Epsom salt baths.
To make a detox bath using Epsom salt:
- Use 2 cups of Epsom salt for a standard-size bathtub filled with warm water.
- Pour the salt into running water to help it dissolve faster into the bath.
- Soak in the tub for at least 12 minutes, or 20 minutes to treat constipation.
Adding essential oils, such as lavender or peppermint, can offer additional aromatherapy benefits, such as relaxation and improved mood.
Baths Solution for Eczema treatment:
In order to combat dry skin and irritation it is necessary to take preventive measures that helps treat eczema. Bath Solutions can be used to get rid of the skin condition. Bathing is an important part of eczema treatment. When a person has a skin condition like eczema, their skin needs extra moisture to be locked inside it and this helps them soothe the skin issues.
Following these bathing tips can do wonders for your irritated skin:
- Soak for approximately 5 to 10 minutes in a tub of lukewarm water.
- Use a fragrance free cleanser.
- Pat dry your skin with a soft towel.
- Always leave your skin slightly damp.
- If you have a prescription topical medication, apply it after patting yourself dry.
- Moisturize your entire body within 3 minutes of getting out of the tub.
- Before putting on clothes, wait for a few minutes so that the moisturizer can be absorbed easily. Consider doing this right before bed to allow your skin to maintain its moisture.
Can epsom salt baths be used for infants or children?
Magnesium salt bath is a healthy mineral if only used in a correct manner. There is no problem bathing your child in a bath solution. It can help keep their skin calm and soothe skin irritation.
The salt possesses magnesium which isn’t present in most of the foods we usually eat, so its highly beneficial to grab it from outside or some other resource.
It is recommended that you use this mineral with the consultation of your doctor. It is also important to note that low-grade Epsom salt is extremely dangerous. It is recommended to consult your doctor before making any changes to your daily skin care regimen.
Using Epsom Salt during Bath for babies
Here are a few things to consider when giving an Epsom salt bath for toddler
- Ensure the salt is fully dissolved before giving them a bath
- Don’t use more than 2 cups of Epsom salt per bath
- Only 2-3 times a week is recommended to give your child a bath
- Consult with your doctor
- Never leave your child in the bath unattended
- Test the temperature of the bath before letting your child in it
In case of any kind of reaction to their first Epsom salt bath its recommended to consult the doctor as soon as possible.
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) bath side effects
Epsom salt is generally considered safe when used as a soak. If you’ve never tried this particular bath solution then its always advised to consider testing a patch of skin with magnesium sulfate and water first.
If you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction following an epsom bath, such as hives; difficult breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat. Contact your doctor.
Common side effects may include diarrhea or upset stomach.
Stop use if you experience:
- itchy skin
- allergic reactions, like hives or rash
- skin infection
- Confusion
- dizziness or lightheadedness
- fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat
- low blood pressure
- muscle weakness
- skin infection after soaking
- sleepiness
Few questions that always strike our mind may include:
Can Epsom salt irritate the skin?
It is seen that many masses believe that the high degree of magnesium ready to enter the body through the skin is adequate for lessening swelling and being therapeutic. It is beneficial for relieving skin and lessening the inflammation caused by eczema.
How often should you take shower if you have eczema?
It is always recommended to take at least one or two showers daily. Wash or shower in ta lukewarm water for about 10 to 15 minutes. Keep in mind that if you shower too much, it can dry out your skin. Ensure to moisturize your skin well after taking bath.
