Moisturisers: Effective in eczema

In people with eczema, moisturisers prolong time to flare, reduce the number of flares and are steroid sparing, according to a Cochrane review of 77 RCTs with a mean duration of 6.7 weeks. The studies encompassed 6603 people who were aged, on average, 18.6 years.

Moisturisers reduced eczema severity based on the SCORAD score, although the improvement did not reach the minimal important difference on this widely used measure. However, moisturisers reduced the number of eczema flares by 60% and increased median time to flare by about 5 months (180 versus 30 days). Using moisturisers also reduced the amount of topical corticosteroids needed to reduce eczema severity to
a similar degree. Active treatment combined with moisturiser reduced eczema severity assessed by investigators and the number of flares by 57% compared to active treatment alone. Moisturisers did not seem to be associated with adverse events compared to controls.