Most literature about atopic dermatitis and eczema will talk about how you should use a good moisturizer all the time, to keep your skin in good shape and less susceptible to external irritants.
Today, I came across a few products that claim a new product type, the _shielding lotion_, which they explicitly differentiate from a moisturizer. A couple examples are “Gloves in a bottle”:http://www.glovesinabottle.com and “Skin MD”:http://www.skinmdnatural.com.
Both of these products claim that instead of just trying to supply moisture to the skin, the correct approach is to create a lotion that has barrier-forming elements that semi-permanently bond with your skin, and that this has the dual effect of keeping irritants out and keeping natural skin moisture in.
I suppose this is somewhat in line with the new topical ceramide-based approaches as well (in that they all aim for a significant reduction in TEWL, trans-epidermal water loss), but if you look at the ingredients list for each, they seem very very similar to the standard moisturizers out there on the market already. The standard humectant + dimethicone + preservatives + thickeners formula. This makes it hard to tell if the formulations really are different, or if it’s just marketing bullshit.
Anyhow, I’m not about to waste a huge amount of my time trying to do all the research before I put some money down. The Gloves in a Bottle product is less than $20 for a bottle (with shipping) so I’m willing to give it a try and find out for myself. The “few reviews”:http://www.amazon.com/Gloves-In-A-Bottle-8oz/dp/B0001YSKBG/sr=8-1/qid=1165138315/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5399795-2780424?ie=UTF8&s=hpc that I found on Amazon seem somewhat promising.
I’ll have to report back on the actual results.