Silk clothing offers no benefit for children with eczema, study finds

Wearing silk clothing offers no additional benefit for children who suffer from moderate to severe eczema, a study led by researchers at The University of Nottingham has found. The results of the trial, published in PLOS Medicine and funded by the National Institute for Health Research, revealed that wearing specialist silk garments did not reduce the severity of eczema for the children taking part, not did it reduce the amount of creams and ointments used for their eczema, or the number of skin infections experienced. Professor Kim Thomas, from the Centre for Evidence Based Dermatology in the University's School of Medicine, led the study. She said: "The silk garments that we looked at as part of this trial did not appear to provide additional clinical or economic benefits over standard care for the management of children with eczema." "These results provide robust evidence to inform health commissioners and prescribers in making informed clinical decisions about the treatment of their patients." Three small clinical trials had suggested that the use of DermaSilk clothing might offer some possible benefits for children with eczema. However, these previous trials were insufficient for guiding clinical practice because of limitations in their methodology, prompting the Nottingham study to examine the issue in more detail. Quality of life issue. The CLOTHing for the relief of Eczema Symptoms trial (CLOTHES trial) , which involved recruiting hospitals from across the UK, was the first large, randomised controlled trial to evaluate the use of silk garments (DermaSilk or Dreamskin) for children with moderate to severe eczema.