My husband and I grew up in the snow but sadly had to move to the big smoke in the lowlands for work. It is for this reason we take as many trips to the mountains as we can in order to reconnect, however the first time we took our son, a sufferer of eczema, it ended in disaster. Thankfully, we found a way to counteract the enraging effects the thin, dry, air has on his skin.
WHAT IS ECZEMA?
Eczema is a common skin condition that instigates due to an allergic reaction. It is regularly labeled as dermatitis, a catch-all term for inflammation of the skin, although some specialists use the term ‘eczema’ for specific types of dermatitis, such as atopic dermatitis in children.
Even though there are an array of instigators of eczema and dermatitis the effect is usually the same: when the skin is inflamed it gets red, swollen or blistered, and intensely itchy, leaving those with the condition in an unrelenting degree of irritation.
HOW DOES ALTITUDE AFFECT ECZEMA
As a rule of thumb, the higher the altitude the more extreme the climate and the greater effect it has on your skin, as was the case with our vacation to Aspen. Due to the high altitude the air was considerably thinner , stripping it of all of its moisture. To throw further salt into the wound, the elevated climate’s temperatures shifted drastically from warmer days with high UV levels to bitterly cold nights compensated for by hot, dry air in the mountain lodge.
As you can likely assume, this had a considerably negative effect on my son’s sensitive skin. The considerably drier air sucked all of the moisture out of his skin leaving it extremely dry, irritated, and red, essentially inflaming his eczema to unbearably high levels.
NATURAL SKIN CARE BALMS
Because this was our first experience of such inflated eczema we had no idea how to counteract it so we eventually cut our trip short in order to provide him with relief. Not wanting to allow eczema to limit my son’s enjoyment of the slopes we came ready on our next trip.
Thanks to a medical friend of ours, we were advised to pack a natural nourishing lotion that could replenish the moisture extracted from his skin. To my son’s delight, the simple remedy was extremely effective as his skin stayed hydrated, his eczema was kept at bay, and he could ski comfortably for the full two weeks.