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Oatmeal Bath for Eczema: Should You Try It?
The ideal type of oatmeal to use for a bath is colloidal oatmeal. It’s made of oats ground into an extremely fine powder so it dissolves in water and mixes evenly.
Colloidal oatmeal works in a few different ways. “It contains vitamin E, an antioxidant that works to prevent cell damage in the skin,” says Oyetewa Asempa, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology and director of the Skin of Color Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “The starches and complex sugars in colloidal oatmeal also help the skin to retain moisture and maintain a healthy skin barrier.”
It also reduces skin inflammation by dulling the effect of cytokines (inflammatory proteins in the body that lead to skin itch), and may lower the amount of a bacteria called Staphylococcus on the skin, which can contribute to eczema flares.
No recent research has measured how well oatmeal baths work for atopic dermatitis, but one small study of 64 participants found that creams that included colloidal oatmeal reduced symptoms by over 50 percent.
“Some researchers also speculate that colloidal oatmeal may help rebalance the skin microbiome, promoting a more normalized skin environment that could reduce flare-ups,” says Bruce A. Brod, MD, a clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
But while these theories hold promise, the science is still developing, and experts need more research to fully understand how and why oatmeal baths may benefit certain people with eczema, Dr. Brod says.
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