11 Feb 2021

The Nasal rinser is my new best friend

by PapaLima | posted in: Fremhævet, Skincare, The bath | 0

I am always looking for new ways to optimize my well-being and in that process, I stumbled upon nasal rinsing. It seems that a lot of people like this kind of cleansing, so I had to try it.

The nasal cavities act as a filter for the air you breathe in and are filled with cilia. Their job is to catch pollen and impurities before they reach the lungs. This “air filter” is important for keeping the body healthy, but can also be a place where allergenic pollen and dust can accumulate over time.

In many Asian countries, it is just as normal to wash the nose in this way as it is to wash the rest of the body.

I’ve been using the nasal horn several times a week and have fallen in love with it. The first time you rinse your nose you have that great feeling of the free airway – a bit like if you take a strong menthol candy. There is just so much more “throughput” that you become addicted to using your nasal rinser.

Since the rinsing of your nose can cause some splashing of water I use it as part of my bathing routine.

How to use the nasal rinser

The way I use the nasal rinser is:

Fill the nasal rinser jug 3/4 with cold water.
Pour in salt with the included spoon.
Pour to the brim with hot water from an electric kettle. Thus you get approx. 37 degrees.
Stir with the back of the spoon until all the salt is dissolved.
Go into the shower and put the horn’s spout against one nostril.
Turn your head slowly and the water will run through your nasal cavities and out of the free nostril.
When approximately half of the water is used, you put your finger on the nostril where the nasal rinse’s spout is and blow water, etc.! out of the free nostril.
After a few calm breaths, the procedure is the same on the other nostril.
Take a deep breath and enjoy the wonderful feeling of clean and free airways

Do not use lukewarm tap water, which could contain bacteria and other small insects that live in lukewarm water. That is most likely to occur in countries with primitive water distribution systems.

My preferred type of salt is sea salt. It does normally not contain an anti-caking agent, but there can be small impurities that you have to look out for.

To keep the nasal rinsing jug clean, I regularly give it a go in the microwave at 100% power with a little water in the bottom for about a minute. Be careful when you take it out, it is very hot. Let it cool and it is fresh and ready to use again.

I use the nasal rinse from Rhinohorn.dk, as the quality is top-notch. It is sold in danish pharmacies and I give it my best regards.

16 Jun 2020

Hand-eczema during the Corona-times

by PapaLima | posted in: Fremhævet, Skincare | 0

During this corona-pandemic the focus on hand hygiene has given rise to an increasing issue in keeping the skin on our hands healthy.

It’s a simple imbalance between the amount of handwash and the body’s ability to keep the skin healthy. This may well be the root cause of the problems we are now seeing.

The excessive hand washing removes fats that hold the individual skin cells together. The result is that the skin barrier becoming leaky and allergens can enter the body.

When you get an eczema flare-up it is the immune system reaction to allergens that create redness and itching wounds on your skin. This phenomenon is called inflammation and is the body’s protective mechanism when allergens enter the body.

Skincare and treatment

To avoid a worsening of the eczema on your hands, it is essential to rebuild the skin barrier and at the same time treat inflammation.

After each hand-wash all soap should be rinsed well off and while hands are still moist, plenty of skin cream should be applied. You need a skin cream that is made for eczema skin and can replenish the skin with the compounds that are a natural part of our skin. It should be a cream that contains the same fats the skin now lacks and has lost due to the frequent washing. These are ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids. They are binding agents between the individual skin cells and create a skin that does not allow allergens to enter, but keeps in the body’s moisture.

I have sensitive skin and have for more than ten years been investigating what works in my personal skincare. Countless products have been tested, but so far the most effective skincare cream is the one from CeraVe. It contains the right combination of ceramides, lipids and fatty acids naturally used by the body in production and maintenance of healthy skin.

By using CeraVe cream or creams with similar ingredients you can help your skin to cope with the hardships it is now beeing exposed to.

Use cream in the morning after your morning-bath, after each wash and before bed. Since the cream absorbs quickly into the skin you can use it frequently, especially during the first “reconstruction phase”.

To reduce inflammation, the eczema you may have should be treated with a topical steroid cream. I would choose Locoid, which you need a prescribtion for. It is a class 2 cream and is quite effective, but the risk of side effects is very small.

It is important not to be nervous about using topical steroids. It should be remembered that skin with eczema and inflammation itself is a dangerous condition that poses a risk of worse things in the future. Therefore, it is important to treat your eczema and follow up with effective skincare.

It is only when using class 3/4 creams for a very long time in the same area that you can experience side effects in the long run.

27 May 2020

CeraVe – Moisturizing cream for eczema

by PapaLima | posted in: Fremhævet, Skincare | 0

I find the CeraVe cream to be the best moisturizing cream for skin troubled by eczema. I found it some time ago after reading interesting articles about the benefits of ceramides. These fatty compounds should be good for people with a faulty skin barrier like eczema-patients since ceramides should fill the space between skin cells and act like mortar in a brick wall. Hmm… Sounds interesting…

On Amazon I saw thousands of positive reviews of the CeraVe-cream. After reading a lot of these reviews I had to try this cream and learn what this CERAMIDE was all about.

An extraordinarily high percentage of reviews are fire-stars.

I bought two jugs of CeraVe moisturizing cream 340 grams from lookfantastic.dk. It was reasonably priced compared to a lot of other moisturizing creams made for eczema. These often tend to be quite expensive and thereby being unattractive in the long run.

Before we go my experiences with the cream we need to learn more about the main active compound in CeraVe creams, the ceramides.

Ceramides

Us with atopic dermatitis has dry skin and our skin barrier is compromised because we lack fats called lipids in the top layer of the skin. Ceramides are skin-identical compounds that are a normal part of our skin. In normal skin these fatty lipids represent approximately 50 percent of the top layer. They keep the skin resistant against allergens and inhibit water from escaping the body. Normal people can produce these lipids including ceramides to keep the skin barrier tight and sturdy. Eczema patients do not produce enough to fill the spaces between the skin cells and therefore the skin barrier becomes leaky.

By applying lipids and ceramides to the skin in the form of cream you can help the skin to hold cells together by adding these essential fats to the skin barrier.

This info-graphic shows how Ceramides works

As we age the skin becomes drier as the level of lipids in the skin diminishes. For that reason the importance of adding creams containing ceramides becomes more important as time goes on.

Ceramides can is made synthetically or from natural sources, but chemically they are the same. Together with other fatty lipids like glycerin, fatty acids, and cholesterol, ceramides can work wonders for eczema skin.

CeraVe cream is recommended by the National Eczema Association in the U.S.

My verdict

This is the best cream I have ever used. The cream is silky smooth to apply and absorbs quickly into the skin. My skin is now soft, moist and feels more robust than ever before. The use of steroid creams have gone down and for now I am in a period where I do not use them anymore. If this holds up in the long run we will have to see, but for now I am very pleased.

When I shower and use mild soap and salt my skin is now still oily and feel not as exposed as before. It seems like this cream in a way fills up the skin with oils, so the barrier is intact even after the shower.

I have been using the cream daily for a week after the shower, at high noon and before bedtime. In that short amount of time I can literally say that my skin has changed.

All in all I am very impressed and my skin just loves this cream. Hopefully it will keep doing its job at keeping the steroid creams at bay.

Read more about diet, skin care and much more in my book.

References:

Wikipedia/Ceramide

National Eczema Assosiation – Moisturizers for Skin Diseases: New Insights