Benefits of CBD for Eczema
Eczema is a condition that many children have, while most people grow out of it by the time they reach adulthood. Many people keep eczema through their lives, though, and some even develop it later on in adulthood.
It can be a really painful and irritating condition, and it’s estimated that around 1 in 10 Americans experience symptoms as adults.
It can be difficult to find products that effectively treat skin conditions like eczema, especially products that don’t contain a lot of chemical toxins. We’re going to take a look at CBD for eczema in this article, exploring the ways that it might be able to benefit your symptoms.
The information below will give you a better idea of why CBD products might be a good option for you to use moving forward. We’ll talk about eczema and CBD individually before we look at how they interact.
Let’s get started.
What is Eczema?
Interestingly, eczema isn’t just one thing. You might consider what you have to be eczema, although symptoms of eczema encompass a number of skin conditions. People might also call these symptoms atopic dermatitis.
In all cases, the symptoms of eczema conditions include dryness and itchiness. Eczema also tends to turn the skin red.
Babies and toddlers tend to experience these symptoms almost everywhere on their bodies. Symptoms tend to be particularly bad on the limbs, head, and neck. Those who experience atopic dermatitis in adulthood tend to have symptoms wherever their skin naturally folds.
These areas are different depending on the person, but they tend to be the folds of the arms and legs. The affected areas tend to turn your skin the opposite shade of your natural skin tone.
If your skin tone is darker, you might notice red or lightened patches of dry skin. Those with lighter skin tones tend to see a darkened redness.
Conditions That Eczema Encompasses
A lot of the conditions that we consider eczema have different causes but produce the same or similar symptoms.
If you’ve been exposed to allergens and experience dryness and itchiness, you might have what’s called contact dermatitis. This is just the contact of various allergens on your skin that cause a reaction.
Patches of dry, itchy areas on your hands might be the result of nummular dermatitis. This is a hand rash that could be caused by a number of allergic reactions or exposure to various toxins. Stasis dermatitis occurs near the hands and feet.
Seborrheic dermatitis occurs when a person has dryness and itchiness on their scalp. This condition might lead to a significant amount of dandruff and irritation.
The nice thing about these conditions is that they function in similar ways. The skin, though irritated in distinct areas for different reasons, operates in the same way across the body. That means that they’re able to be treated with similar methods.
What’s happening when skin gets irritated in the first place, though?
Understanding Dry and Itchy Skin
The root of these issues is an overreaction of the immune system in a particular part of the body. Allergies, for example, come when the immune system overvalues one material that your skin is exposed to and sends a disproportionate response.
The result is inflammation, extra blood to the area, and the skin becomes dry and itchy. The discomfort that occurs from inflammation is a result of the fact that your body is trying to snuff out a potential threat.
It makes the area that it perceives the threat a little less hospitable than it normally would. Your healthy skin is smooth and soft as a result of healthy blood flow and moisture. When you’re smooth, your skin is providing a healthy environment for all of the biological matter running through you.
When there’s something that might hurt you present, though, your body targets that and attempts to kill it. That means zapping the moisture and sending white blood cells to attack.
So, while it may be unfortunate that you experience inflamed skin, your body is only trying to make sure you’re safe.
What is CBD?
CBD is one of two prominent cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. THC and CBD are what give marijuana its dominant effects, and they both perform very different roles.
THC produces the psychological effects of cannabis, whereas CBD contributes to the bodily effects. Things like pain relief, anti-inflammation, anxiety relief, and more are all chalked up to CBD.
Cannabis contains a number of other cannabinoids, although CBD and THC are the most studied and understood. They’re also extremely effective at helping with various issues and they can be transformed into different applications.
Cannabinoids operate by engaging with the human body’s endocannabinoid system. This system runs throughout the body and is conducted by the interaction of receptors, endocannabinoids, and enzymes that break the compounds down when they’ve served their purpose.
Instead of a system that has a lot of physical parts like the nervous system, the endocannabinoid system is more the function of cannabinoid receptors throughout the body.
These receptors are attached to our neurons just like the receptors for dopamine, serotonin, and the other neurotransmitters and hormones that keep us running.
Receptors and CBD
Cannabinoids engage with one of two receptors in the system. There are CB1 receptors and CB2 receptors. THC is known to engage with the CB1 receptors.
Those receptors engage more heavily with areas of the brain like the frontal cortex and the amygdala. That’s why THC produces such a psychological effect. The receptors interact strangely with dopamine to allow it to flow freely and really change the way a person feels.
CBD, on the other hand, interacts with CB2 receptors. These engage more with different areas of the body and contribute to pain, inflammation, and the nervous system, and the immune system.
The endocannabinoid system plays a big part in regulating your immune response. So, CBD engages with the receptors in a big piece of your body’s immune system, the same one that’s causing inflammation in certain areas.
Treatments for Eczema
The first thing you want to do when you’re experiencing eczema is to find a way to reduce the irritation. This will just help you a lot as you move forward because it’s no fun to be scratching yourself constantly.
Itch-relief is important in the sense that scratching the affected area will only make it worse. When you scratch, you signal to your body that there’s something to be dealt with.
This just strengthens the immune response to the problem area and makes the problem more complicated. Beyond that, you might try to use antibiotics or steroids to address the issue. These are effective at taking out any actual issues or allergens that could be posing a problem.
The important thing is to address the issue of inflammation and figure out what irritated your skin in the first place. That reduces your discomfort and gives you some insight into how you can avoid it next time.
The thing about some skin medications, though, is that they’re chock-full of ingredients with names you can’t pronounce. Chemically engineered substances can help inflammation but might not be the best for our bodies.
CBD for Eczema
CBD products are great at relieving pain and reducing inflammation.
Those two things make them excellent options for treating eczema. The beautiful thing is that CBD actually attacks the issue from two angles.
The first way that CBD helps treat eczema is from the inside. When the cannabinoid engages your receptors, it spreads throughout the whole system in your body and reduces your immune response to curb the inflammation you’re experiencing.
That serves as a way to improve your inflammation for the long term. The issue starts to get resolved internally and you can expect to see results after a day or two of taking CBD. If this is your angle, you can either ingest CBD orally, smoke it, or use a topical cream.
The other way that CBD treats eczema symptoms is through the top of the skin. The skin, just like most of the body, has cannabinoid receptors. The pain-relieving qualities of CBD start working on the receptors in the skin as soon as you put a topical cream on.
Rubbing CBD cream on your skin will almost immediately reduce the symptoms you’re experiencing at the moment. Topical cream works to fight inflammation as well, but the immediate result will be a lack of irritation and pain.
Natural Treatments are Safer
The tough thing about all of the chemical products in other ointments and medications is that they can actually irritate your skin even more.
Your body isn’t always equipped to take on man-made chemicals that are aimed at reducing specific things. The treatments might work for some people, but it’s difficult to know how your body is going to respond.
It’s also important to remember that your body works holistically in a lot of senses. Take the endocannabinoid system for example. When you rub CBD onto your skin, your receptors gather that cannabinoid and it flows around the entire body.
Sure, it’s most concentrated where you apply the cream, but the body has a way of taking in and recycling through everything it’s exposed to. A lot of the chemicals present in brand-name ointments were manufactured to treat one specific thing.
Let’s say “chemical X” was engineered to treat dry skin. It might be effective at what it was made for, but the body has to incorporate and break down that chemical. Additionally, it’s impossible to keep a chemical in one part of the body.
Blood is moving around at insane speeds, running throughout the entirety of our bodies and minds. Receptors take in those chemicals and respond, and that process can have real impacts on our wellness.
CBD, on the other hand, is a cannabinoid that incorporates well with the entire body. It’s natural, and its impacts on the endocannabinoid system are beneficial in a number of ways.
So, not only are you getting relief from your eczema, but you’re also benefiting the rest of your body.
Keeping Eczema at Bay
At the end of the day, you really just want your eczema to go away so that you can feel comfortable again.
CBD treatment is an excellent way to reduce that pain and start feeling like yourself. It’s important to figure out what caused your eczema in the first place, though.
It’s tricky because a lot of things can produce eczema symptoms, and those who have one variety might be more prone to getting symptoms from other sources. Allergens, fabrics, and rough materials exposed to our skin are some key culprits.
If you think clothing is the problem, try to isolate different fabrics that you wear and see which ones produce a reaction to your skin. In a lot of cases, materials that might scratch you are the things to watch out for.
Anything that’s too tight on your body or made of wool are good places to start.
Another big one is stress. A stressful series of days might have your immune system scattered and producing a lot of itchy rashes throughout your body. Treating chronic stress is another thing that might be benefited by CBD cream.
You can look to https://www.3chi.com for some potential products that can relieve your stress as well as reduce inflammation.
If you’re still having trouble figuring out what the cause of your eczema is, look to the products you’re using on your skin. Shampoo, conditioner, lotion, cleaning spray, deodorant, and body sprays are great places to start.
Eliminate one product at a time and see if the symptoms don’t subside. A lot of those pesky chemicals in health products can cause adverse reactions in some people.
Want to Learn More about CBD Products?
Using CBD for eczema might be an effective way to find relief. There are a lot of other things that you can use CBD to benefit, though, and we’re here to help you learn more.
Explore our site for more insight into CBD, THC, delta 8, and much more.
Martin B.
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