Would tanning beds help your eczema?

I have eczema as well and my steroid cream usually does the trick but when the winter comes around and it gets a little worse I usually buy a week of tanning. depending on your skin type i go about ten to fifteen minutes and by the end of the week its nothing the steroid cant handle.

yes yes yes!!! people who said no have not tried it. I have eczema on my arms. tanning is the easiest and fastest way i have been able to get rid of it. it goes away in only 2 sessions and is exponentially better after just one session. you don't have to go that often. just once every 2 weeks or so. works like a charm. also clears up acne!

I am 17 years old and have had eczema since I can remember, I tan 2 times a week, and always apply Jergens Ultra Healing Lotion before and after, and my eczema is completely under control, it is the only thing that works for me and my dermatologist was the one who suggested it. Its a win win situation, you get nice color and your skin is clear!

I also suffer from eczema. All different forms and stages, here and there, sometimes covering 80% of my body. Recently I went on vacation to Mexico and although I didn't spend tons of time in the sun or in the ocean, just the little bit that I did made my eczema go away almost 100%. When I got back home and it was still winter I decided to recreate that environment best I could so I now take salt baths and go tanning once a week. I am also taking a high dosage of Omega's, Evening Primrose Oil and Vitamin (all supplements you can find at any natural food store) on top of having a strict diet (cutting out the things I know I am allergic too). It really has been great having some relief. I still fall back on the bleach baths if my skin starts to ooz at all because I have struggled with staph infections because of this. Oh and once I got back from vacation and my stress level was down I am determined to keep it down. This is huge! Life really isn't that big of a deal. Anyways, I wish everyone who suffers from this the best and I really hope you can all find what works best for you.

Recently my eczema has gotten really bad. Weepy blisters around the eyes, dry itchy skin, painful skin cracks... it got so bad around the eyes that they would swell shut. I though that I'd had it pretty much under control, but then in November it got terrible, and it hasn't cleared up since. Not eating dairy helped, but it was so hard to cut it out completely.

I was at the dermatologist a couple weeks ago and she said that tanning does help eczema - however she also said that I need to be careful. With tanning comes possible skin cancer. So I don't go often, maybe once every two to three weeks for 5 to 9 mins. It definitely helps keep it under control and I find it soothing for my skin.

And after everything I've read about the steroid creams, I'd rather cut those out over the tanning. Sometimes I wonder how much damage they've actually caused my immune system in all the years I've been on them....

I have chronic eczema on my hands. I tan once a week in a tanning bed and I'm out in the sun as well. I love the sun. But I use sunscreen with moisturizers in and my skin is clearing up beautifully. :-D

I too have had atopic eczema my entire life. I have tried all kinds of presciptive lotions and creams. When I have a bad breakout, usually seasonal, my dermatologist puts me on prednisone. This of course clears me up, but it is only temporary. A few weeks after being off the prednisone, my eczema returns. A friend of mine told me she had heard how tanning beds helped both eczema and psoriasis. I asked my dermatologist about it and she said "try it." I have been going for a month and I now feel like a normal person. I can wear skirts and shorts as my legs are clearing up beautifully. I still have some dark spots from where I have previously scratched so much, however they are starting to disappear. I am going to continue to go to the tanning bed twice a week for no more than 10 minutes per session. The salon charges $25 per month which is certainly less than I was spending on prescriptions that did not help me. I am going to be cautious about the amount of time I tan, but I feel like I have a life again without itching, bleeding and feeling discouraged :-) :-)

Alright, so when I was about 8 years old I had eczema really bad all over my back. but that went away for about ten years. then it came back all over my body and it's been really bad for about a year now. i've finally figured out that i NEED to sleep with a fan blowing directly on me so i won't sweat and scratch myself and cut myself up while i'm asleep. i also use aveeno intense relief cream, which helps SOOOO much. and i use Elidel, although my dermatologist hasn't prescribed me as much as I really need. but those are my rescues. without them my life would suuuuck.
anyway, now that i know that tanning beds can help with eczema, i'm DEFINITELY going to try it out. :-) i can't wait, and i really hope it works. i'm very pale and never go tanning, so i'll probably only do about 5 minutes a week at first and see how it works for me. but thank u all so much for your advice! i highly recommend the aveeno i use and also cerave works pretty well if you don't like the aveeno!

Tanning definitely works. I am 28 now and have had eczema since I was 3. I have tried numerous creams and home remedies, and have even had to be on antibiotics because the wounds had gotten so bad. I am at a point right now where I have never had such a bad break out. I usually get it only on my hands, but I am literally breaking out everywhere. I know this is because my roomates have cats, it's summertime and I am under a lot of stress. I found out from a friend a few years ago that tanning worked for him... no more than 10 minutes a couple times a week. The only problem I have with the tanning beds is that my eczema gets better worse before it starts to get better, but it does truly work. I just started my sessions today. I can't wait for some freedom! Good luck to you!

Hi,

I have suffered from eczema my whole life and want to try tanning! Would any suggest a time limit and any other essential info to get started?

Also has anyone tried xolair? I hear this helps with allergic asthma and could potentially help with eczema but has not been fully tested?

Thanks!

i have had eczema sense i was born and it has always been really bad. and right now im really concerned because it has been getting much worse as ive been getting older. it is really bad on my back, arms, neck, face, scalp, and even my butt! it is embarrassing to go to the pool or go outside, or just be in public. i have tried a thousand creams and lotions, but nothing has fixed it.
i decided that i would try going to a tanning bed and see how it helps. i am really hoping that the tanning bed helps. im going to keep posting to tell everyone my thoughts on tanning beds and how it effects my eczema. wish me luck!

Tanning absolutely works! I had a few sessions with my dermatologist in his UVB bed and got immediate relief. But - at $28 for each 10 minute session and being young with no insurance I tried the generic run of the mill tanning beds (UVA) and although it wasn't quite as good it still helped relieve the hell that we all have with itching.

I have been using tanning beds for the last 25 years, I don't need it much in the summer because I am outdoors quite a bit, but we have 6 month long winters here and I have to go every 2 weeks or so or whenever the itching starts to take over my life. You don't have to do it until you burn, just 10 minutes or so, in fact, you can actually feel when the itching starts going away and it gets even better over the next 24 hours or so. I feel better about responsible tanning than I do slathering chemicals all over my body.

I have had severe eczema for almost 10 years. Until recently the only thing that would work to make the rashes and sores “go away” was Prednisone or Kenelog. Both of these strong steroids are not long term solutions.
I started going to a tanning salon. A friend of mine said that the tanning salon helped him a lot. I simultaneously tried liquid “Evening Primrose oil on my skin and starting taking the gel tabs 2X a day.
I am not sure which is working but after 3 weeks of tanning and taking the Evening Primrose Oil I am eczema free. ::-) ) it is the middle of winter… My worst season. I haven’t felt so free in years. I may actually go get a message this week. Something I haven’t been able to do for almost 5 years. Any comments?? Doctors??

i was diagnosed with eczema last year. but this winter i had a terrible breakout... it was a different kinda of eczema. it wept and oozed and became crusty and would break open on my arms when i moved. it was terribly itchy to top it off. it was so bad the doctors didnt even think it was eczema. but after tons and tons of tests... it turns out out to be eczema. i used so much steroid cream it was crazy. so i heard about the tanning bed treatment. I gave it a try and it helps so much! i started out 5 minutes and now i am going in for 15 minutes one or twice a week. i know that tanning beds are dangerous. but i either live with this horribly painful skin disease in the winter.. so i tan a few times a week... so pick tanning.
i'd advise anyone who has mild to severe eczema to tan one or twice a week until the breakout goes away.. or even to prevent it. just remember to moisturize lots! unscented lotion only!
also.. baking soda/baby oil baths help with the itch and adds moisture :)
hope this helps :)

I've been suffering my whole life (I’m 29 now). I get dry and open doing most of the damage in my sleep, there isn’t a spot on my body that hasn’t broken out at some point. It got so bad about 11 years ago that I was admitted to the hospital and treated as a burn patient because I was so open, raw and highly infected, honestly I even had dry patches on my cornea it looked like I had pink eye. While in the hospital I was being treated by a young dermatologist who was especially interested in my case. I think he wanted to make some big research break through right out of school. He and I started experimenting with alternative treatments. I’ve found that allergies were the key to it all. I don’t think any allergist will tell you they can treat your skin with allergy shots but trust me they DO WORK! I also have nasal and eye allergies to the same things that cause my skin to break out. The allergist gave me shots to treat my sneezing, itchy eyes, wheezing…etc, but as my dermatologist speculated my skin cleared right up too. I can promise you if you have eczema and you can’t get yourself to clear up, get rid of your pets, make your house dust free, and avoid any foods you may allergic to and you will clear up. If you are allergic to anything else like pollen that you can’t eliminate get the allergy shots. I’ve tried every cream in the pharmacy and have been on some trials, most I’ve found to be so painful to put on due to the amount of alcohol in them that I refuse to use them. When my scalp breaks out I use dandruff shampoo for a week or so and it will clear right up. Anywhere else on my body, Neosporin and a band aid for a day or two and it will start to heal. I started tanning indoors and I swear it has helped keep me from breaking out. I have noticed that sweating causes me to break out too so I can’t be outside for long periods. But tanning indoors is 10-20 minutes at a time and I don’t sweat a whole lot. I don’t use the tanning as a healing method, rather a preventative measure, when I do have an area that is starting to get dry and flaky I cover that spot rather than leave it exposed like someone else posted on here. Some other things that I noticed were triggers for my skin to break out were perfumes and dyes, I only use perfume free/dye free everything. Lotion, shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, I don’t wear perfume myself and I will not get too close to someone that has on perfume or cologne. I haven’t had a bad break out since that time 11 years ago when I was hospitalized. The best thing you can do is figure out what you’re allergic to and eliminate it from your environment.