My sister has eczema on her fingertips. She's 29. She's been a vegetarian for 15 years and a vegan for a few years. I'm wondering if her diet is the cause? She also swims and its aggrivated by the chemicals in the water. Will she ever get rid of it? It is spreading a little to her palms. She's had it for about 2 years.

Candida (yeast) overgrowth in the gut.

A no-low sweets, no-low carb diet. (check it out at your local health food store.)

Could be caused by anti-biotics taken years ago, or an ingestion of live yeast, or a diet of high sugar and carbs that the live yeast can feed on. You will have more symptoms of this if you have it, look them up.

After the 1-3 month progressive diet, I suggest making your own Yogurt (with bulgaricus culture) or, better yet Kefir (made with your own grains, which you can purchase over the Internet). If you do not drink milk, you can culture soy milk or even water!

This will help your natural cultures to be placed back into your gut again.

Email me if you want for other explanations that may be what you could use. Others are welcome too.

You can alleviate the symptoms by using only organic skin products and soaps, swimming in chlorine free pools, and being aware of other chemicals in your environment. Some chemicals in most of the liquid soaps or detergents may cause that. It's the best not using them. Regular soaps are better and try to keep the area moist. I have eczema on my hands, too. So does my younger sister. I think there are many causes for it. Some doctors say allergic reactions cause eczema breakouts, some say it is hereditary. So far, my eczema only breaks out when I use that cheap, pink bathroom soap. It is true that laying in a sunbed helps control the breakouts. My dermatologist also prescribes a steroid cream which helps a lot, too. It may be chemicals but it could also be caused by stress. Eczema is not curable but you can control it.