I’ve had a type of eczema my whole life, and I agree that there are other factors involved besides the bacteria.
The type I have involves only my hands and feet, and throughout my life it’s traveled around.
Now, it mostly shows up on my left foot. Only my left foot. That foot has been operated on. I talked to someone yesterday who has the same thing and hers is now primarily in her right foot. She’s had an injury on that side.
I’m still willing to try the topical probiotic and the bleach bath to see if either of those things helps.
Our son was a preemie. A few months after we introduced solid foods into his diet he developed eczema. Nothing worked, using the elimination diet to figure out if allergies might be the source showed no difference.
The wait to see a dermatologist was so long that I scheduled an appointment with a functional medicine doctor, who was booked just as far out. By the time he saw a dermatologist it was so bad that his earlobes were separated from his head from eczema. His neck, arms, legs, hands and feet were horrible.
The functional medicine doc did a blood test and it showed a long list of food allergies. The list is so long that it’s incredibly difficult to eliminate all the foods. We try to avoid the most severe, but haven’t been vigilant enough and need to get more serious. The problem is that he’s allergic to the most common foods(eggs,wheat, dairy,chicken, beef, onions, garlic, potatoes,and more...) so finding allergen free food that a little boy will eat is expensive and difficult.
Right now it’s mostly inside his elbows, behind his knees, on his wrists and feet. He’s a trooper but it’s not fun for him to manage.