How To Make Oatmeal Bath For Eczema: Does It Work?

 Key takeaways:

1. Eczema is a name for a group of diseases that cause itches, inflammations, redness, and blisters.
2. An oatmeal bath is a beneficial way of relieving eczema flare-ups using a bath infused with oatmeal.
3. You can take an oatmeal bath once or twice a day to get the maximum benefits of this treatment.

As far back as 2000 BC, oatmeal has been beneficial for treating itches and inflammatory skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and shingles. Preparing oatmeal baths is just one of the ways to utilize the benefits of oatmeal.

An oatmeal bath is a simple and effective way to relieve inflammatory conditions by adding oatmeal to a bath. The anti-inflammatory effect of oatmeal can be credited to several antioxidants in oats (antioxidants are molecules produced by plants or the body that help the body fight harmful free radicals).

According to research, the antioxidant avenanthramides play a main role in the anti-inflammatory effects of oatmeal baths—although they are available in minimal amounts.3 It was found that concentrations as low as 1 parts per billion (ppb) of avenanthramides significantly reduced interleukin-8 (a chemical substance in the body that causes inflammations).

In addition to this function, oats have moisturizing abilities because of their protective and water-holding capacity. This is due to the high concentration of starches and beta-glucans in oats. Also, how can we forget the great cleansing properties of oatmeal? This is all thanks to saponins, an antioxidant found in oats.

 What is eczema?

Eczema is a skin condition that causes itchiness, dry skin, rashes, scaly patches, blisters, and skin infections. As common as eczema is, it does not have a cure, however, it can be managed using necessary medications prescribed by a doctor or some approved home remedies to calm the symptoms.

Eczema is not just one skin condition; it can be classified as a group, and there are seven types of skin conditions under this group, which include: 

• Atopic dermatitis
• Contact dermatitis
• Dyshidrotic eczema
• Hand eczema
• Neurodermatitis
• Nummular eczema and 
• Stasis dermatitis  

Eczema can occur at any point in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood.

According to statistics, more than 31 million Americans have some form of eczema. The exact cause of eczema is unknown, but researchers have found genes and environmental triggers to be causes for some people.

For the genetic aspect, it has been found that changes in the protein gene called filaggrin lead to a leaky skin barrier, which can trigger eczema. Eczema is not contagious; you don’t have to worry about ‘catching’ it from someone else.

 Does an oatmeal bath work for treating eczema?

Yes, using an oatmeal bath can relieve symptoms of eczema.

When you have eczema, your skin gets dry, itchy, inflamed, and flaky. To minimize this, you need an agent that can reduce inflammation and highly moisturize your skin. Oatmeal contains antioxidants like avenanthramides, saponins, starch, and beta-glucans that can handle eczema flare-ups. They perform anti-inflammatory, cleansing, protecting, and moisture-sealing roles.

 How to make an oatmeal bath for treating eczema

Making an oatmeal bath may seem like a big deal, but honestly, it is not. All you need are just two basic ingredients, and you’ll have that bath running. You can use colloidal oats purchased from a drugstore or online (colloidal oats are the powder obtained from the grinding and processing of whole oat grains) or your basic rolled oats with no additives, purchased from a grocery store.

If you decide to use rolled oats, you may need to grind them with a food processor to get a fine powder or use them just as they are—you will still achieve the same result; however, colloidal oats dissolve easily in water. Let’s proceed to the steps for making an oatmeal bath.

 Ingredients:

• Colloidal oats or rolled oats
• Water

 Steps in Preparing an Oatmeal Bath:

1. Prepare a bath by running warm water in a tub.
2. As your bath is ready, add 1 cup of colloidal oats or finely blended rolled oats. If the rolled oats are unblended, pour them into a mesh cloth and hang them on a running faucet. Periodically squeeze the mesh to release more oat content into the bath.
3. Once the oatmeal has dispersed, soak in the oatmeal bath for 15 minutes while gently rubbing the oat-infused water all over the affected area.
4. After having an oatmeal-infused bath, use a soft towel and gently pat dry your skin. Be gentle with this process, as vigorous cleaning can irritate your skin.

 How to use oatmeal bath effectively for eczema

Getting the result you want from oatmeal baths requires following the correct procedures. It's not only a matter of jumping in and out of the oatmeal bath; here are some instructions and safety measures that can be useful:

• Limit soaking time: Dip your body for just 15 minutes in the oatmeal bath to avoid loss of moisture.
• Use warm water: Use warm water instead of hot water for the bath. Hot water can strip your skin of moisture, drying it out and worsening the irritations and itches.
• Avoid soap: Do not use soap on your body because it can worsen the irritations.
• Gentle drying: After the bath, rinse your body with warm water and pat dry with a clean towel. Aggressively rubbing the towel on your skin can trigger irritations.
• Moisturize: After giving yourself an oatmeal bath, moisturize your skin using a fragrance-free moisturizer. Consider looking into moisturizers that contain oat or shea butter, hyaluronic acid, glycerin, humectants, and vitamin E. These ingredients will protect your skin from moisture loss and relieve any irritations.

 Other ways oatmeal may be used to treat eczema symptoms

Aside from using colloidal oatmeal or rolled oats for baths, oatmeal can also be infused in skincare products, including:

• Moisturizers (e.g., Aveeno Calm + Restore Oat Gel Moisturizer)
• Cleansers (e.g., Murad Soothing Oat and Peptide Cleanser)
• Body washes (e.g., Shea Moisture Oatmeal and Vitamin E Body Wash)
• Lotions (e.g., Vaseline Intensive Care Sensitive Skin Relief)
• Eye creams (e.g., Drunk Elephant Ceramighty AF Eye Balm)
• Face exfoliators (e.g., Dermatologica Daily Milkfoliant Exfoliator)
• Toners (e.g., First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Wild Oat Hydrating Toner)

 Other benefits of oatmeal

Incorporating oatmeal into your diet can produce a huge nutritional difference in your lifestyle. Beyond lessening flare-ups, oats have demonstrated further benefits in terms of disease and sickness prevention. These are oats' additional advantages.

• Improve the quality of life and promote good health: Oatmeal is very nutritious. It contains lots of bioactive compounds like phenolic acids, tocols, sterols, avenacosides, and avenanthramides that promote good health. These bioactive compounds perform different roles, such as mopping up free radicals and preventing cancer.
• Lower cholesterol levels: Beta-glucan, the major component of oats' dietary fiber, has been proven to reduce cholesterol levels in the body. This is done by preventing the oxidation of bad cholesterol by simply mopping up the free radicals that would have performed this action.
• Balance the blood sugar levels: The major component of oats' dietary fiber, beta-glucan, can also balance blood sugar levels by slowing down glucose absorption in the blood.
• Oats can promote immunomodulation: Oatmeal can act as an immunomodulator, adjusting your immune system to help your body respond to diseases or illnesses.
• Oats can improve gut microbiota: Oats have unique phytochemicals (rich in phenolics, lipids, and beta-glucan) that contribute to gastrointestinal health and illness prevention.
• Oats reduce obesity: Studies have shown that oat beta-glucan has hydration properties and a sticky consistency. Because of these properties, it can delay the time it takes for food to come out of your stomach, which reduces your appetite to take in more food. Now, because your appetite is lessened, subsequently, your body weight, body fat, body mass index, and central adiposity (also called pot belly) will be affected.
• Oats can reduce inflammation from exercise: Studies have shown that taking oatmeal can alleviate the side effects of eccentric exercise (exercise that lengthens the muscle, like squats or press-ups) such as inducing muscle damage, skeletal soreness, and loss of performance after downhill running or vertical jumps.
• Oats are rich in fiber and can promote normal bowel movements.

 Other remedies for eczema

Using oatmeal baths is not the only way to minimize eczema flare-ups. Here are some other remedies that may help:

• Taking probiotics
• Taking vitamins D and B12
• Applying coconut oil or sunflower oil
• Using antihistamines

Your healthcare provider may recommend topical steroids, but they should not be used for more than three months without taking a break.

Consult a doctor to determine the best course of action if your eczema flare-ups are interfering with your everyday life or getting worse than usual even after taking an oatmeal bath. Also, if your doctor has recommended any medication that can help with your flare-ups, take your medications seriously.

 Conclusion

Incorporating an oatmeal bath may be the savior your flare-ups have been waiting for. Oatmeal baths are very beneficial not just for eczema treatment, but for any disease that causes skin inflammations or flare-ups, including psoriasis, dermatitis, and hives. However, as much as oatmeal baths are very beneficial and may seem to perform healing magic on your inflamed skin, try to reach out to your doctor to ascertain that an oatmeal bath is right for you.

With all these benefits of oatmeal, if you are not utilizing the healing properties of an oatmeal bath, this may be your sign to add it to your routine.