What to Do If Your Psoriasis or Eczema Is Worse in Summer

Symp­toms of pso­ri­a­sis and eczema often get worse dur­ing warmer weath­er. Here’s why, and how you can pre­vent a flare-up.

Days loung­ing by the pool, trips to the beach, base­ball games, back­yard BBQs…some of the most clas­sic sum­mer activ­i­ties revolve around being out­doors. Hours in the sun fol­lowed by a cool blast of air con­di­tion­ing may sound heav­en­ly to some peo­ple. But if you have pso­ri­a­sis or eczema, it might not sound as appealing. 

Pso­ri­a­sis and eczema symp­toms can flare up when you’re exposed to trig­gers. Trig­gers vary from per­son to per­son and may include any­thing from aller­gies to ill­ness to expo­sure to cer­tain fabrics.

Peo­ple with pso­ri­a­sis or eczema often find that their symp­toms get worse at dif­fer­ent points in the year, depend­ing on the sea­son. For some, warm weath­er offers a wel­come relief. But for many oth­ers, their symp­toms get worse dur­ing the sum­mer months.

The good news is that, even if you’re prone to flare-ups when tem­per­a­tures climb, there are plen­ty of ways to help pre­vent symp­toms so that you can still enjoy the summer. 

Here are five ways to man­age pso­ri­a­sis and eczema symp­toms that act up dur­ing the summer.

1. Don’t For­get Your Sunscreen.

Sun­light can be a catch-22 for peo­ple with eczema and psoriasis. 

The sun emits rays of ultra­vi­o­let light (UV rays). These rays are known to improve symp­toms of both pso­ri­a­sis and eczema. In fact, both con­di­tions are some­times treat­ed with ther­a­py that uses arti­fi­cial ver­sions of UV rays. How­ev­er, over­ex­po­sure to UV light can also be dan­ger­ous. In the long term, it can increase your risk for skin can­cer. In the short term, it can cause sun­burns and may make pso­ri­a­sis and eczema symp­toms worse.

The solu­tion? Lath­er up. Sun­screen is impor­tant for every­one, but it’s espe­cial­ly impor­tant if sun­light affects your pso­ri­a­sis or eczema. Sun­screen fil­ters out a lot of sun­light, which pro­tects you from over­ex­po­sure and may pre­vent sun-induced symp­toms. At the same time, it doesn’t com­plete­ly block the rays, so you can still get some of the ben­e­fits of sunlight. 

Since cer­tain ingre­di­ents in sun­screen can cause flare-ups, make sure to go with pso­ri­a­sis- and eczema-friend­ly options. 

If you have pso­ri­a­sis, do not put sun­screen direct­ly on open or active­ly inflamed skin.

Read on Duly Health and Care: Sun­screen 101: How to Choose the Right Sun­screen for Your Skin

2. Switch Up Where You Swim.

Sum­mer may as well be syn­ony­mous with swim­ming. Peo­ple with pso­ri­a­sis or eczema are often able to swim with­out prob­lems and may even find that the water improves symptoms. 

If you’ve tried going for a dip in the pool or a swim in the ocean and had a bad reac­tion, you don’t nec­es­sar­i­ly need to give up on swim­ming. In some cas­es, your reac­tion might come down to whether you’re swim­ming in salt­wa­ter or chlo­ri­nat­ed water. 

Salt­wa­ter can help remove dead skin and improve the appear­ance of pso­ri­a­sis. It’s also known to soothe symp­toms of eczema. Chlo­ri­nat­ed water can be ben­e­fi­cial for eczema, and some peo­ple even take bleach baths as a form of treatment. 

How­ev­er, remem­ber that both types of water can poten­tial­ly dry out or irri­tate your skin. Rinse off with fresh water and mois­tur­ize after going for a swim to keep dry­ness at bay. And to avoid itch­ing and flar­ing lat­er in the day, change into dry clothes as soon as you’re done. 

3. Break a Sweat, But Don’t Get Too Wet.

Between hot weath­er and being more active, it’s hard not to sweat dur­ing the sum­mer. Per­spir­ing does have some ben­e­fits. It’s your body’s nat­ur­al way of cool­ing off and reg­u­lat­ing body tem­per­a­ture, which is key for man­ag­ing pso­ri­a­sis and eczema. How­ev­er, sweat can be an irri­tant. As it dries, it can leave a salty residue that caus­es itching. 

Some ways to reduce sweat include:

• Wear­ing breath­able, 100% cot­ton clothing

• Rins­ing off after sweating

• Chang­ing clothes if you sweat through them

• Using a fan or air con­di­tion­er when you’re inside (but be sure to mois­tur­ize, since AC can dry your skin) 

Read on Duly Health and Care: Exer­cis­ing in the Heat – Tips & Tricks 

4. Keep an Eye on Sum­mer Allergens.

Warm weath­er means aller­gy sea­son for those aller­gic to pollen, mold, or insect bites. Aller­gy symp­toms can be frus­trat­ing enough on their own, and they can be even more both­er­some if you have pso­ri­a­sis or eczema. It’s com­mon to have flare-ups when you’re exposed to allergens. 

If you are aller­gic to pollen, check the pollen fore­cast to see if it may be a good day to stay indoors. For a mold aller­gy, add a high-effi­cien­cy par­tic­u­late air (HEPA) fil­ter attach­ment to your air con­di­tion­er, clean out your gut­ters after rain­storms, and get rid of damp­ness in your home (like pipe leaks).

If you have bad reac­tions to bug bites, use insect repel­lent that does not con­tain DEET (a chem­i­cal in many repel­lents). DEET is a pow­er­ful force against bugs, but it can irri­tate your skin.

5. Remem­ber to Take Care of Your Men­tal Health.

Many peo­ple find that their mood improves in the sum­mer, but oth­ers find that their mood gets worse. This can be espe­cial­ly true if you’re social­ly iso­lat­ing your­self or not get­ting any nat­ur­al light because you’re stay­ing in to avoid the heat. If you hap­pen to dis­like heat, very hot tem­per­a­tures alone may be enough to put you in a sour mood. 

Tak­ing care of your men­tal health is impor­tant for many rea­sons, and it can be even more crit­i­cal if you have a skin con­di­tion. Stress is a very com­mon trig­ger for pso­ri­a­sis and eczema flare-ups. Pay extra close atten­tion to your mood and stress lev­els, since man­ag­ing stress can actu­al­ly reduce flares. 

Relax­ation tech­niques, exer­cise, and mind­ful­ness activ­i­ties (like yoga or med­i­ta­tion) are great ways to reduce stress and improve men­tal health. If stress becomes over­whelm­ing or you’re hav­ing trou­ble man­ag­ing it, don’t hes­i­tate to talk to a men­tal health professional. 

Need help man­ag­ing pso­ri­a­sis or eczema? Sched­ule an appoint­ment with Quin­cy Med­ical Group der­ma­tol­o­gist.