“E” For Eczema – Vitamin E Supplements And Ecream Application
The use of vitamin E in cosmetics and skin care products is something you may already be familiar with. It’s even possible that you’re already using some of them, be it intentional or without you knowing at all. Often regarded as the “skin vitamin,” its incorporation in these products is justifiable given its benefits on skin health. Beyond promises of a healthier skin, vitamin E’s crossover as a possible treatment for eczema still raises eyebrows.
Crossing Over: From Skin Care To Eczema Cure
These days, vitamin E is no longer limited to being used in beauty products. Somehow, the vitamin managed to cross over with promises of curing eczema. Taken as daily supplements or applied directly on the skin in the form of an ecream, it is currently being used as an eczema treatment and not just a treatment for dry skin. But how exactly did vitamin E make this transition?
An Introduction To Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin that can be acquired from eating egg yolk, nuts and their oils, seeds and seed oils, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, asparagus, broccoli, olives, mangoes, papayas, avocadoes, fortified cereals, rock fish, and blue crab. Before vitamin E can be utilized by the body, it has to be eaten along with fatty food. Without the accompaniment of fat, the vitamin is then stored in the liver and the body’s fatty tissues until its next use.
Only small amounts of vitamin E are needed by the body in order to function normally. But as a fat soluble vitamin which is stored in the body and not easily disposed of like water soluble vitamins, it comes with the risk of vitamin E toxicity which may be just as harmful as a deficiency.
The Roles And Properties Of Vitamin E
Vitamin E has numerous health benefits. Perhaps its most relevant role is keeping our cells protected from damage – otherwise known as its “antioxidant property”. Not everything that the body metabolizes turns out to be good for our health and vitamin E protects us from these damaging effects. Vitamin E is also an anti-aging vitamin – which is probably why we see it being used in anti age products. While it help your body get any younger, it can prevent it from getting any older. Vitamin E delays the body’s aging process through its antioxidant property.
When directly applied on the skin through lotions, vitamin E also acts as a sunscreen and can even treat sunburns. Moreover, vitamin E also helps regulate vitamin A which is another “skin vitamin”.
Correlating The Function Of Vitamin E To Its Use As An Eczema Cure
In case you haven’t noticed by now, vitamin E plays a huge role on skin health. The human skin is most prone to the damaging effects of being exposed to the sun and free radicals – which are damaging by-products of metabolism. Even the mere exposure of our skin to the environment has its toll of damaging our skin even further.
The improvement and maintenance of your skin’s health is especially important if you are dealing with skin conditions such as eczema. Might I remind you that eczema makes your skin vulnerable to irritation. By setting the health of your skin on firm grounds, you can therefore help your skin become more resistant to developing eczema. During an eczema breakout, what vitamin E does is that it protects your skin cells from further damage, preventing the worsening of your rashes until they subside.
The Applications Of Vitamin E In Curing Eczema
When planning to use vitamin E to treat your eczema, you can either take it as a daily supplement or apply it directly on your skin through an ecream. With supplements, it is important that you do not exceed taking 400 IU of vitamin E daily as this has detrimental effects on your health. An ecream is not a typical topical application like a vitamin E lotion. It has large concentrations of vitamin E which are directly absorbed into the skin, unlike with vitamin E lotions which have insufficient amounts of the vitamin to treat eczema.
