My Experience of Treating Atopic Eczema with Saunas and Steam Rooms

As anyone who suffers eczema will know, there are just as many treatments out there as there are stars in the sky. I've tried many of them: changing my diet, exercising regularly, wearing clothes made from natural fibres and dousing myself in UV light from sunbeds. Sometimes I’d feel I was making progress, other time’s I’d find my eczema to be just as bad as usual. That was before I joined a gym with a sauna.

For as long as I can remember lathering my body in unguentum merck, taking milky balneum-filled baths and using clobetasone butyrate to treat bad outbreaks was normal practice. Up until I was 18 I still applied cream all over my body twice a day.   What helped me put down the steroid creams and forget about them? Saunas.

When using the steam room after a long (Ok, a short) workout I found my eczema much less inflamed than normal. After googling “steam room for eczema treatment” I saw that opinion is pretty divided; there were many who found that steam rooms, and especially saunas, irritated their eczema. At the same time, there were a lot people claiming steam rooms and saunas treated, or even cured, their condition.

An hour-long sauna and steam room session became a regular part of my routine. I watched as my eczema magically disappeared over time. My use of Unguentum Merck went down to two times a week during the dead of winter - completely unheard of for me! And I began to see a potential end to my use of smelly moisturisers.

That was three and a half years ago.  I haven’t touched the cream for three years now and only occasionally use moisturiser. Using sauna’s and steam rooms has changed my life, and it has the potential to change yours as well! As I mentioned, this doesn't work for everybody, and it will soon become itchingly obvious if the routine doesn't work for you. But if it does work your life will be turned around.

Here are some tips

 Bring Water

Stay hydrated. Bring a 2litre bottle with you and fill it up in the sauna area.

Take cold showers regularly

This cools down your skin temperature, whilst your core remains hot. It allows you to stay in for longer and sweat more.

Let yourself drip dry

After your final shower go and lie down on what of the deck chairs that are normally provided and let yourself drip dry. It does wonders for your skin! This is also the best time to use moisturiser.

         

       Try and use the steam room and sauna at least three times a week.

Any less than that the treatment will not be effective.

    

    Find out what works for you!

I’m hesitant to give more advice, because generally you will figure out a routine that works for you. For example, I use the sauna for about 50 minutes and only spend ten minutes in the steam room. Some people find that using only the steam room is better for them, and others don’t use it at all! Similarly you must find out which type of sauna or steam room works best – there are a few variants! I would recommend infra-red saunas and Steam baths enriched with salt steam, although these can be hard to find. Figure out through trial and error what works best for you.

Warning

It is common for sauna users to add olbas oil to the radiator. I've found that when my eczema is dry the olbas oil burns and stings my skin, leaving me feeling worse than when I go in. If you someone using olbas oil ask them to only add a small amount.