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My cousin swore that saltwater cured his eczema, which he discovered serendipitously after his first time swimming in the ocean. He took saltwater baths when he returned to the midwest.
I find the same thing happens with me. Combination of uv rays from the sun to tan up the skin and dry out the dead layer, sitting on a boat in a wetsuit sweating to break the top layer of skin and the derm abrasion from the salt water to clean off the dead 'sticky' layer of skin, revealing nice new young non itchy skin. That's what I think anyway. You can get stuff in a bottle here in Australia that does the same thing called ' derma drate'.
I have been told that the reason it works is the combination of things happening.
Sun light is infusing skin with vitamin D making it healthier,
water immersion is softening the skin, and
Infrared is injuring the skin in large equal parts,
Since the cause is an over active immune system attacking the normal decaying skin cells, we grow skin twice as fast as unaffected persons.
When we burn the area, a larger area of skin has to be replaced. The body only has so much building material available at a time and the larger area takes more material to cover thus we receive a more traditional growth pattern.
I have been able to achieve the same results with showering twice a day and taking large daily intake of Vitamin D. It is just not as much fun as being in a warm tropical ocean everyday.
I have always felt that the ocean was a cure for many of life's problems. I have no proof of course. I can just tell you that even if I just go for a swim, I feel so much better rather it is a rash, sores or just aches and pains.
We all came from that body of water, I think we need to go back to it every now and again just to feel complete again.
a large number of skin issues are caused by bacteria. Usually this is in warmer moister areas like behind the knees or in the hair line. In salt water there are free chlorine ions that have a killing effect on bacteria on the skin. Hence why we see saltwater pools these days.
A mild anti bacterial creme, UV light or other microbial agent can usually achieve the same result. Kinda of interesting for the microbiologists out there but really it is alot more fun to just go diving and tan in the uv light of the beach.
I have my own "cured by scuba" story: about 10 years ago I had a really horrible sinus infection. Ever since then I've had minor sinus problems - mainly a persistent post-nasal drip, and occasional sinus headaches. It's as if the infection has remained in there, hidden and percolating for 10 years, no matter how many antibiotics I took. The post-nasal drip caused me to have this annoying habit of constantly clearing my throat.
When I started diving 4 years ago, my husband is actually the one who noticed that I wasn't clearing my throat anymore, and I realized that my sinus problems were GONE! I have no idea what did the trick - my husband theorized that the pressure pushed all the gunk right out of me. (sorry for the gross imagery... :yuck: ).
I also discovered that if I DON'T dive for a while, it comes back! We took about a 6-month break from diving last year, and sure 'nuff, after a couple months the annoying throat-clearing was back. So I realized I have to keep on diving often enough to keep my sinus infection at bay. Personally I think that means that my health insurance should cover all the costs.
Kind of a hijack from skin issues, but when I go to CocoView in Roatan for the week, I do all shore diving, about 3 dives a day, at least 2 hours a dive. At the end of the week my nails are strong and have grown considerably. I always thought this was due to my nails absorbing vital nutrients from the seawater.
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