Homeopathy for eczema: a systematic review of controlled clinical trials.

BACKGROUND:

Homeopathy is often advocated for patients with eczema.

OBJECTIVES:

This article systematically reviews the evidence from controlled clinical trials of any type of homeopathic treatment for any type of eczema.

METHODS:

Electronic searches were conducted in Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library with no restrictions on time or language. In addition, the bibliographies of the retrieved articles and our departmental files were hand searched. All controlled trials of homeopathy in patients with eczema were considered. Their methodological quality was estimated using the Jadad score.

RESULTS:

One randomized and two nonrandomized clinical trials met the inclusion criteria. All were methodologically weak. None demonstrated the efficacy of homeopathy.

CONCLUSIONS:

The evidence from controlled clinical trials therefore fails to show that homeopathy is an efficacious treatment for eczema.