Comments on: Bleach Prescribed to Relieve Eczema Itching: Talk About a Toxic Bath!

By: Johnathon Smith

Johnathon Smith — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:59:30 +0000

This isn’t that big of a deal. It is just like having chlorine in your pool and we all let our kids go swimming don’t we? Yes, if you mix the bleach 50/50 with the water it is going to be dangerous and honestly you’re stupid. Its a 1/2 a cup of bleach to a whole bath tub of water. Unless your washing your kids in the bathroom sink this level of dilution isn’t going to harm your kids, unless your stupid enough to leave them unattended and let them drink the whole tub. Yes, bath time is a time to play. So, let them have a different bath after this bath. This should be treated just like any other treatment, you don’t leave a kid with asthma on a breathing treatment all day. You monitor them for the 15 minutes and then take them off and let them run around. You clean your house with bleach, the fumes from that are more dangerous than this 1/2 a cup bleach bath. The people who argue this is cruel and wrong are the same type of people who don’t let their kids near the microwave because it will give them cancer.

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:43:16 +0000

It works because it is treating the staph on the skin to stop the repeated skin itching-cracking-infection with staph bacteria…itching-cracking- infection cycle.
Which it does by killing the staph bacteria which are more prevalent on those with atopic eczema (90% of those eczema sufferers compared with only 25% of the average population have a lot of staph on their skin).
Unless you experience it yourself it would be impossible to understand quite how debilitating and constantly irritating eczema is when really bad. As an adult with chronic eczema all I can say to everyone is please consider the treatment-it is proven to work…even if you think it sounds crazy! The concentration is extremely dilute. It’s no cure, but if it helps calm things down it is so worth it. Constant itching (and then pain once you have itched and the skin breaks) does your head in!

By: DoubleSuccess

DoubleSuccess — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 03:03:48 +0000

We have 4 and 7 year foster children that had moderate excema when they arrived with us 3 months ago. I decided to google alternative treatments as it was quickly apparent that the prescribed medicines didn’t work. Hit the Mayo Clinic article first try and tried the bleach bath as recommended that night. Next day there was surprisingly significant improvement. After the second bath both were excema free and continue to be with a maintenance dilute bleach bath every few weeks or so that seems to have no side effects. Makes me wonder if this information was actually surpressed by the big pharma companies. They’ll be losing a lot of money now.

It also makes me wonder about the etiology of excema. If excema supposedly is not caused by bacteria then it shouldn’t be clearing up from this, should it? Now it is time to do some research into why it works.

By: JimDoe

JimDoe — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:01:47 +0000

Thats funny Star, which medical websites claim the moon shot was a fake or elvis is still breathing. Go figure while you,re so busy doing your figuring.

By: PSD

PSD — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:16:45 +0000

I have eczema on my inner arm, a little on the back and inner knee area. I started taking this bleach bath remedy last week and can happily say that their has been a visible improvement in my eczema in a matter of days!
For those who are concerned with the possible pulmonary or breathing problems associated with the inhalation of bleach, or if you are a sufferer of asthma (as i am), i would recommend that you open the bathroom window whilst you are taking this bath and if you have an extractor fan in your bathroom, switch it on.
I would sincerely recommend this remedy to anyone who suffers from atopic dermatitis. Good luck!

By: Star

Star — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:40:31 +0000

JimDoe you also pointed out that there are hundreds of websites saying how bad bleach baths are for you; well there are hundreds if not thousands or hundreds of thousands of websites that say that Elvis isn’t dead, the moon landing was faked, and President Obama is an alien muslim…..goes to show that you can’t believe everything that you find on the internet, go figure.

By: Esperanza

Esperanza — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:21:00 +0000

Just a clarification: Re: Jim Doe’s statement: “And I,ve never heard or met in my experience even one doctor to say bath in it but try not to get your face wet….” In spite of his statements, it sounds to me like JimDoe has never consulted a doctor for directions on how to administer a bleach bath to a child. A bleach bath is not like a regular bath. It is of very short duration (10 minutes) and NOT AT ALL like a regular bath, where you wash your hair and clean your whole body. Think of it as a ten minute, supervised soak, done no more often than 2 to 3 times per week–(not more often than every other day.) The child’s upper torso and head never get in the water AT ALL, though you can take a wash cloth of the bleach bath water and run it over exposed areas–(areas not under the water) that are prone to eczema. If JimDoe had ever done this, he would know how easy it is to do correctly– without getting faces in water–for even very young children. With our son, we simply put some favorite bath toys in the water and sit beside the tub and watch him play for 10 minutes. If your child is too young to keep his own face out of the water, then get in the tub with him, nestling him between your legs and supporting his body in the water while you play with toys together. This is not rocket science. You NEVER leave a young child unattended in a bath. Not momentarily. Not ever. My son has NEVER had his head go under the water in all of our time of bleach bathing. It is EASY to do this.

By: JimDoe

JimDoe — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:42:38 +0000

Esperanza, I missed reading this part of your post.
” Note: Once you’ve got the eczema under control– and it won’t be long– you don’t have to keep giving regular bleach baths. Taper off. We only do it as necessary now– so far this year only twice! If your child is truly suffering, you owe it to the both of you to try bleach baths.”
At least you seem to be doing smart bathing. Maybe,just maybe what you are doing is safe.I,m glad to have gone back and read that part I missed. I apologise for using the word yoyo.You are not a yoyo. And I still know what I,m talking about.
Heres one thing I do know. Bleach can kill off whats called the Good bacteria in the skin. Thats when syestematic yeast and ringworm and fibered fungus can set in. Be careful and do watch for these signs, Brusing on skin usually side and back and knee, That could be yeast overgrowth inside the skin organs and blood. Matted fibers in the hair and or brittle breaking hair.
To all here good luck and wishing you all very well.

By: JimDoe

JimDoe — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:44:12 +0000

Esperanza you are a complete yoyo. I never said drink it. But I do know going under water with head will make ones reflex try and inhale. Do that to a momentairly untended child that dips his or her head or splashes it on face. And I,ve never heard or met in my experience even one doctor to say bath in it but try not to get your face wet. Uh just try? And this babble about expired bleach degrading at 20% a year? Mega babble. Are you sugesting buying somewhere only expired bleach and then waiting so many more years to pour it in the bath. Meaningless point you make on that. And you make my case for me by stating salt water is harmless. But you do make one valid point, even a cup of “non” idodine salt will burn some on open sores. I can see that point and have experienced that. But it will heal faster to reletive, at even small times of bathing exposure. Many children can not tolorate that kind of superfical pain. Nor can some adults. In all things honest I,m glad its working for you and that no one has experienced fungal, ringworm or yeast growths so far. I hope it stays that way to. To say I don,t know what I,m talking about is a egotistical and uneducated remark. A simple google search will turn up hundreds of sites about the warning of bleach bathing or exposure to harsh chemicals and fungal infections. Bleach is a harsh chemical, and bathing in it is way more harsh.Whole towns have been destroyed and evacuated in several states because of train derailments of bleach cargo. Its happened several times in the US alone. Many have died and many more suffered burned lungs and skin and even some of those lived over 25 miles away from the derailment site. It peeled paint off of houses that far away. Living rooms dripped its paint from walls. You may say I don,t know what I talk about but you,ll stay wrong on that remark until you,re able to alter or remake history. Those were extreem cases of concentrated exposure. The FDA has limits on how much can be added to drinking water. Your skin is your largest organ and it adsorbs this as well as your gut lining. And it (drinking warter) has a lot less parts per million than it this is recomended for bathing at 1/2 cup per bath. Bleach! It seemed to work really well for me, man it releived the itching pretty good, I said, HECK I can live with this now. In less or about a year is when I got the ringworm on body, fungus in hair and syestematic yeast infection. I know you,ll keep on using this. Its ok, you are not my body. But as a sincere warning please be careful. And at least watch for these signs I mentioned. I don,t mean meaness to you at all,ever. I,m only slightly passing through this site and mentioned something I personally experienced.

By: Esperanza

Esperanza — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:30:01 +0000

JimDoe doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When doctors recommend bleach baths treatment, they tell you NOT to put your head under the water. You’re also NOT supposed to drink it! You’ve got to use common sense.

I’ve given my son bleach baths– 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup bleach per 40 gallons of water (full tub)– for three years. No hair fungus. No yeast infections. Note: Once you’ve got the eczema under control– and it won’t be long– you don’t have to keep giving regular bleach baths. Taper off. We only do it as necessary now– so far this year only twice! If your child is truly suffering, you owe it to the both of you to try bleach baths. Before bleach baths my son had horrible eczema on his ankles and behind his knees (less on his inner wrists and inner elbows), frequent infections from scratching the ezcema (impetigo and staph). Now he looks like a regular kid. We moisturize in the morning and at bedtime, I run an extra rinse cycle with white vinegar added whenever I wash his clothing, and I give him an occasional bleach bath when I see that I see the tell-tale red scratch marks on his legs.

Re: salt water: I’m not knocking salt water. Salt water does help; however at my son’s worst, he cried and said that salt water stung– probably because of his marathon scratching. At any rate, bleach baths worked best for us. Note: re: expired bleach: bleach degrades at 20% per year and you eventually end up with– harmless salt water!