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Wash it away

Bleach baths improve eczema

Children with eczema experienced a dramatic improvement after soaking in a tub full of water and half a cup of household bleach, shows research from Northwestern University. A study showed that just 10 minutes in a bleach bath twice a week was more effective than the usual topical and oral antibiotic treatment, which doctors are reluctant to prescribe for fear of encouraging antibiotic resistance. The bleach works by killing bacteria on the surface of skin that causes eczema. Those children who took bleach baths had a reduction in eczema that was five times greater than those children who took “placebo baths.” In fact, the researchers were so moved by the improvement experienced by the bleach bath group that they cut the study short so that the placebo group could start taking beneficial soaks too.

Science Daily

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