Should You Avoid Lush’s ‘Miracle’ Dream Cream if You Have Eczema?

There’s no cure for eczema, but there are many ways it can be treated. No product seems buzzier at the moment than Lush’s Dream Cream.

It gained a cultlike following in 2018 when a woman named Sarah Rudd shared a Facebook post praising the product for not only helping treat her son’s eczema but curing it completely. She mentioned that her son hadn't slept for four months because of nonstop itching and that none of the many treatments she tried before the Dream Cream had made a difference. In the post, she shared photos showing how her son’s eczema progressed over seven days. What started as red, scaly marks on day 1 had completely cleared by day 7. Rudd wrote in the post that the cream has “transformed his skin and he’s now completely and utterly eczema free.”

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In the year and a half since the post was published, it’s gone viral; it's been shared 64,000 times and has received 73,000 comments.

But can it work for you?

What Are the Pros and Cons of Using Lush’s Dream Cream for Eczema?

The main ingredient in Lush’s Dream Cream is oat milk (also known as colloidal oatmeal and Avena sativa), which has been used for centuries to treat a variety of skin conditions, according to a study published in January 2015 in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology. The ingredient has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and, when tested on a group of 29 women with dry skin on their lower legs, it effectively soothed dryness, scaling, roughness, and itch intensity. A study published in July 2017 in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology notes that the ingredient helped the skin retain moisture, and that these improvements were seen after two weeks of using a cream containing colloidal oatmeal.

Sounds promising, right? Not so fast. No one’s disputing that oak milk could help people with eczema, but it’s the 21 other ingredients included in the jar that make many dermatologists dubious. That runs counter to the usual recommendation that the fewer ingredients, the better when it comes to skin-care products for people with eczema. “I tell patients to use bland, simple products,” says Susan Bard, MD, a board-certified dermatologist with Vive Dermatology Surgery and Aesthetics in Brooklyn, New York.

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Fragrance, which is a listed ingredient in the product, in particular can be troublesome for people with eczema. “People who have eczema should be looking for products that are fragrance free,” says Nazanin Saedi, MD, a board-certified dermatologist with Jefferson University in Philadelphia. “Fragrance can be irritating, especially for people with eczema who have sensitive skin,” she says. According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, fragrance can be a trigger, and can either set off an eczema flare or worsen current symptoms. Lindsey Bordone, MD, a board-certified dermatologist with Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, says creams with multiple botanical ingredients can also cause significant irritation to eczema-prone skin. Lush’s Dream Cream also includes botanical ingredients, such as rose water, blue chamomile oil, tea tree oil, and lavender oil.

Another potentially problematic ingredient in the cream is olive oil, says Natalie Yin, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology with Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. “Olive oil can actually disrupt the skin barrier and can worsen eczema,” she says. A review published in August 2018 in Pediatric Dermatology found that olive oil exacerbates eczema symptoms because the main component, oleic acid, doesn’t contain antibacterial properties and can promote inflammation when applied topically.

“My personal take is I find Lush products smell good and the packaging is really cool, but for people who have sensitive skin, I kind of steer them away,” Dr. Saedi says. “A lot of the Lush products have a zillion ingredients in them, so you don't even know what the ingredients are doing.”

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Ingredients That Appear in a Good Cream for Eczema

Now that you know a few ingredients that should be avoided if you have sensitive, eczema-prone skin, here are the ingredients to look for in moisturizers and creams instead, as recommended by the dermatologists we interviewed:

• Ceramides
• Hyaluronic acid
• Glycerin
• Petrolatum

All of these “can quickly repair the skin barrier and replenish lost moisture,” says Shari Marchbein, MD, a board-certified dermatologist with Downtown Dermatology in New York City. That, in turn, can help treat eczema, because eczema-affected skin has trouble keeping moisture in.

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The Bottom Line on Lush’s Dream Cream for Eczema

On the Lush USA website, Dream Cream costs about $30 for an 8.4-ounce jar. If you’ve tried several treatments and not had any luck, you might be willing to give it a shot. But before you apply it all over, test it in a small area to see how your skin reacts. You might find it beneficial, just as Sarah Rudd and the many others who’ve written positive product reviews did. But know that this product won’t cure your or your child’s eczema. And keep in mind what all the dermatologists said: that products with fragrance, including Lush’s, can make your eczema worse. “There are many ingredients that can potentially aggravate eczema,” Dr. Yin says. She suggests visiting your dermatologist for a personal assessment, since everyone has different sensitivities. The doctor should be able to help you determine if this cream is right for you and, if not, suggest other treatments that might work.