Manuka Honey & Propolis Cream Cured Eczema (Madeleine Ritchie Active Manuka Honey & Propolis Skin Health Creme)

Member Name: Machair1

Product:	Madeleine Ritchie Active Manuka Honey & Propolis Skin Health Creme
Date:	20/11/08 (700 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A naural product with no side effects.

Disadvantages: Expensive

I wanted to review this product because I was sceptical about it at first. As a nurse having been taught about so many conventional treatments, sometimes in certain conditions you have to stop for a moment and think about some alternatives before rushing in with things which may have side effects.

About 3 years ago I first discovered my son had an allergy to house dust. The way I discovered this was that we went on holiday to Scotland and were unlucky enough to hire not only a holiday cottage but one in which a hundred years dust was in residence. I have never seen so much dust in one place, it was dreadful. The only cleaner they had was prehistoric, had no suction, and it was dire. He developed a cough which became almost that of an asthmatic. Fortunately this stopped when we returned home. What did emerge though was an extensive patch of eczema which was over most of his legs and was actually bordering on moderate to severe. He found this very distressing.

My first thought was to use a mild hydrocortisone cream which I did. I also changed his floor covering from carpet to laminate and I bought him a new mattress and invested in some anti allergy bedding and mattress protectors. There was a mild improvement in the eczema but not enough to make me feel that he was improving enough so I bought a jar of the cream from a company called Nature's Nectar.

I had in the back of my mind an idea that Manuka Honey was being used to treat eczema and was relieved to find a source of cream made from the honey.

www.manukahoney.co.uk is the website I found which is devoted to the honey and its products.

The company behind the website called Nature's Nectar was founded by Chris Wood who was born in South Africa but has lived in the UK since she was 23. Her interest had always been in natural medicine and in 2000 she was on holiday in New Zealand when she was able to see for the first time the role active manuka honey had to play in the treatment of wounds and infections and on return to the UK began an extensive programme of research.

Just to give you some of the background about Manuka Honey. It comes from New Zealand and is the product of bees who gather nectar from the flowers of The Manuka Honey Bush- just as often you see honey in various flavours depending on the flowers in the local area, so this is the name given to this variety. These areas where the Manuka bushes grow are wild and uncultivated and are only found in New Zealand.

The honey has antibacterial properties and when applied to the skin has in recent trials been effective against MRSA and taken internally there is growing evidence that the honey can kill the bug which causes stomach ulcers namely Helicobacter Pylori. Not all the honey produced has these capabilities but all of it is taken to The University in New Zealand where it is tested and given a strength rating the higher the strength the more the potency, this is called the UMF.

I should explain that you can buy the pure honey which you can eat and various preparations which you can purchase to be applied topically ie on the skin.

I ordered the skin health cream on recommendation from the owner who was extremely helpful when I contacted her by telephone. 01252 330850.

I purchased a jar of the cream which was £15.49 and was advised to apply it twice a day to the affected area. We were also advised to supplement the treatment with manuka honey taken internally so I did purchase some of this but my son hated the taste and although they sell tablets we decided on cost grounds too not to do this but to try the cream only first.

The cream is a mixture of New Zealand honey which has a UMF high rating of 18 and bee propolis. Propolis is a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from tree buds and in the cream it is combined with evening primrose and calendula oils.

We tried the cream and I was amazed. Within 3 days the angry areas had calmed down and the skin looked paler and less irritated. By two weeks there were good areas of skin forming between the lesions and the skin looked much healthier. By a month there was only the tell tale signs of slight pink areas to indicate there had ever been a problem and by two months the skin was completely back to normal with no signs of the condition at all.

I am not saying that any treatment is an alternative to that provided by the doctor but in the case of eczema it is often a condition which is difficult to treat. It was a total success and so if you are struggling to cope with eczema I would suggest this may help it certainly did for us and my son has not had a recurrence since.
It is also worth mentioning that the triggers for eczema are varied and some are related to diet such as an allergy to cows milk so it may not be as successful if you are in that category. For my son though it did work very successfully and I would have no hesitation in tying it again.
I think it may also have been due to the measures we put in place regarding the dust mite allergy such as bedding and mattress replacement as dust mites thrive in areas where they can live in moist warm places.
I think it is a viable treatment and certainly one I would try.

Summary: I would recommend this for mild to moderate eczema.