What big pharma isn't telling you about eczema and mint: Home Medicine Cycle 10

A two-year-old ESL student of mine had terrible eczema all over her hands. It was bloody from her scratching. Her parents were desperate. They'd been to three of the top clinics in the country and had tried scores of pharmaceuticals. 

Creative commons image by Gogo of Wikipedia

"Do you want to try one of my natural salves that's just bees wax, olive oil and some garden herbs?" I asked doubtfully. I was very new to herbalism at the time. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to mess with something so obviously sensitive. "You probably shouldn't use it if she's allergic to bees."

"She isn't and we'll try anything!" her father said. 

It was early summer, like now, and I didn't even have the annual batch of salve brewing yet. I only had a few jars left from last year. I went and looked, hoping for plantain. But my plantain salve had long-since been snatched up. The only thing I had left was mint. I did a quick internet search and it said mint is supposed to be good for eczema, so I gave them the salve.

A week later they were back with brilliant smiles. The eczema was far improved. The mint salve worked better than anything other remedy they had tried.

Seriously. This is true.

It isn't that all of my salves are miracle cures. I don't tell you about all the experiments that didn't work. (Well, mostly I don't, unless there's a good warning lesson in them.)

Since then I've seen mint salve beat severe eczema twice more. I have yet to meet a serious case of eczema that mint salve couldn't improve. 

Creative commons image by Arie Farnam

But this leaves me a little confused. If mint is this effective in treating eczema, why isn't it in all the pharmaceutical eczema creams? Mint is in toothpaste. It's not like big pharma and the cosmetics industry has any qualms about using mint. And yet, a Google search for "mint eczema pharmaceutical" doesn't turn much up. 

Mint is so effective with the types of eczema I have seen, even when compared with the most expensive pharmaceuticals, that the connection can't be a fluke, despite the clear need for scientific study on this. And mint is cheap. 

So why the silence on mint and eczema? My observations so far point to a couple of possible reasons.

1. There are a lot of types of eczema. I may have simply been lucky in running into people with a type of eczema that mint can help. 

2. The chemical compounds in mint that are beneficial in treating eczema may well be very sensitive to over-processing. Most industrially produced mint contains a lot of pesticides and mint used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals is heavily processed. It is very possible that industrially produced mint salve or cream wasn't found to be effective to treat eczema. Or the pesticides may irritate already sensitive skin.

3. As I said, mint is cheap. Specialized eczema ointments and creams from the pharmacy are expensive. Companies make big money on expensive creams. They have little incentive to take up something cheap and effective.

The more I learn about herbal medicinals the more I run into this same conclusion again and again. There is often nothing you can buy that will fix whatever problem you have or else the products are exceedingly expensive.  The key is making the medicine yourself, keeping it small, organic and as fresh as possible. That tends to be most effective when it comes to preserving volatile medicinal compounds. 

So, it seems reasonable to try mint salve, poultice or juice for eczema if you can produce it yourself or have a local, small-scale source that uses careful processing. Here is my recipe for salve. For eczema, I would use both fresh mint infused oil that you can make using the recipe and purchased mint essential oil. Diluted mint essential oil may not heal the eczema on its own but it is very soothing and cooling to anything that itches.

The mint is just starting to leave out prolifically at this time of year. While you're gathering mint, here are a few other uses to consider:

• Mint salve isn't just useful for eczema. It will often help any sort of itchy skin condition, such as the flaking skin left after a sunburn has healed as well as mosquito bites.
• Mint is delicious in salads, on deserts and in heavy meaty stews, particularly those containing lamb or mutton. 
• You can make your own mint tea without all the pesticides that infuse commercial mint, by simply cutting stalks of mint with the leaves in tact and hanging them to dry in clumps in a place without direct sunlight. 
• Mint tea is a good calming tea for evening when you want to sleep well.
• It also helps with colds.
• And it's good whenever you feel sluggish and heavy after a big meal, as it helps to cut grease and eases digestion.
• Mint tea is also a great additive to other medicinal teas because it will often make teas that don't taste very good a lot more palatable.
• You can also use a strong mint infusion (tea) to treat eczema if you haven't had time to make salve yet. Let it cool and then either soak the problematic spot or pour the infusion over it.

I love to hear from you. Feel free to comment using the bubble icon on the lower left below this post. How do you experiment with common herbs?  What is the most surprising thing that ever came up? You can also share this on your social networks using the icon on the lower right. 

Warning: Don't use undiluted mint essential oil on your skin and don't drink mint essential oil. Use fresh mint leaves to make infusions. Please also keep in mind that I'm not a doctor and this isn't medical advice. This is my personal experience and research and different people can have different reactions to herbs. You are welcome to use my experience as a basis for further experiments, but it's always a good idea to see a doctor about any significant skin conditio