Eczema – Diet - Red Skin Syndrome

Eczema – Diet

Because it is the easiest, most abundant, and readily accessible, changing our diet is sought after as a remedy by an astounding number of patients suffering from an astonishing array of diseases. This is especially true of the TSA/TSW/RSS patient who have run the gamut of deleting foodstuffs from their diet.

The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.

O. W. Holmes, Jr.

For at least 50 – 70 years fat was the culprit. The “Mediterranean Diet” came into fashion in the 1950’s with the promise that heart disease would be ablated. Because of widespread support from the medical community this special diet spilled over in an attempt to aid many other diagnoses. It appeared to the researchers that the Italians and Greeks were living an extremely long life because of their diet. After fat, sugar reared its head as a forbidden foodstuff. Now the war on gluten has intensified the witch-hunt. The history of these food deletions ebb and flow in favor and disfavor because science cannot backup any premise of culpability in most diseases. They simply do not know the cause. The worst and most prolonged medical problems such as RSS easily sway the patients to look for the magic food deletion. These patients even ask what spice or ingredient to add to their diet for salvation.

No food addition or deletion will cure RSS. I plead for all patients not to waste their time with food cures. The problem for all the diet gurus and bureaucrats is that never ask, “How does it taste?” Even children know – they eat because food is delicious. I fully accept the doctrine of “deliciousness” for peace of mind and total health.

About the Author: Dr Marvin Rapaport, MD

In 1978 I initiated and set up the contact and photo dermatitis clinic at UCLA. There was a need to evaluate a large group of patients who exhibited severe eczematoid rashes, especially on the face. Patients were referred from all over Southern California. All patients underwent a lengthy history and examination. Further evaluations included blood studies, allergy patch testing, special sunlight (photo) testing and skin biopsies. From the start it was apparent that most patients experienced a mild dermatitis on various parts of the body that progressively worsened. Their histories always included numerous doctor visits, multiple physicians, and therapy consisting of an increasing amount of corticosteroids. My testing failed to reveal any specific culprit chemicals, cosmetics, perfumes, workplace or recreational exposures. It became increasingly clear that the physician’s therapy, the corticosteroids, was invariably causing the problem. I wrote 7 scientific articles that were published in the most august peer-reviewed dermatologic journals and I gave many lectures at various dermatology meetings. To this day an unfortunate reluctance exists on the part of most physicians to accept this simple concept.