The homemade bleach, which is used to bleach and disinfect, has a new utility. In small doses it can be used to relieve and treat childhood eczema, according to research from the Northwestern University of the USA.
In a study conducted with children, pediatricians say that children who took baths with a little diluted bleach registered significant improvements in the skin.
"It is a cheap, simple and safe treatment that dramatically improves skin rash and reduces eczema outbreaks" affecting 17% of school-age children, they point out. The study was conducted with 31 children, aged between 6 months and 17 years of age, who had moderate to severe atopic dermatitis and even clinical signs of other bacterial skin infections.
For 3 months one group received baths with diluted bleach and intranasal mupirocin and the other baths with water and intranasal petrolatum (placebos both).
The results indicated that the children of the first group, those who had received the baths with bleach and mupirocin saw reduced the severity of your eczema five times compared to those treated with placebos.
It seems a more than acceptable indication to be used at home, although the problem lies in the concentration of bleach, since it must be less than 0.005%, which is equivalent to about 112 milliliters of bleach for a large bathtub full of water.
Lye, in addition, eliminates bacteria without risk of bacterial resistance, as can happen when antibiotics are used.
As a sign of the effectiveness of the study, it should be said that eczema on the body, arms and legs improved, but not on the face, since it was not submerged in the water with bleach.
