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Patients with eczema can bathe either daily or weekly, with no difference in eczema symptoms, according to the results of a National Institute for Health and Care Research-funded study.
Publishing their findings in The British Journal of Dermatology on 10 November 2025, researchers found that patients can choose how often to wash, without having to worry about drying out their skin or making symptoms worse.
Researchers analysed data from 438 patients living with eczema, including both adults and children. Of those participants, 218 were assigned to daily bathing (a bath or shower six or more times per week), while 220 participants were assigned to weekly bathing (a bath or shower once or twice per week).
Participants recorded their eczema symptoms for four weeks, while they continued to use their regular treatments.
Overall, researchers found no evidence of a difference in eczema symptoms between the two groups. The study results also revealed that the frequency of washing had no correlation with increased skin dryness.
Lead author Lucy Bradshaw, senior medical statistician at Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit, said: “The findings of our study are great news for people living with eczema. It means they can choose a frequency of bathing that suits them.
“It was fantastic to work so closely with people living with eczema to codesign this study. Together, we’re starting to answer questions about living with eczema that haven’t had enough attention in research until now.”
Tan Nguyen, advanced pharmacist in dermatology and biologics at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton Foundation Trust, said: “For many people living with eczema, the condition isn’t just physical. It also carries an emotional burden. Patients often feel anxious about whether everyday habits, like bathing might worsen their eczema. This anxiety is compounded by conflicting advice from different sources on how often they should bathe.
“The findings from this study are reassuring, as they suggest that the frequency of bathing doesn’t negatively impact eczema symptoms. This removes unnecessary restrictions and gives patients more flexibility to fit their routine. This can aid in reducing stress and support overall wellbeing.”
William Price, lead clinical pharmacist for dermatology at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “It is valuable to have a robustly designed study into questions about the impact of non-pharmacological aspects of care for eczema, such as bathing frequency. These questions are neglected in the literature, due to the lack of funding for research when there is not a drug involved in the investigation.
“The study is limited by participants only being followed for a four-week period. However, it does provide reassurance that people with eczema can have the freedom to make choices about bathing frequency, without worrying so much about the near-term impact on the condition of their skin.”
Andrew Proctor, chief executive of the National Eczema Society, described the study as “important, because people do worry about the best thing to do”.
Commenting on the importance of bathing for people living with eczema, Proctor said: “It’s partly cleansing the skin, and partly soothing the skin, because if you have an emollient in the bath, it helps soothe the skin.
“The other thing about eczema and the skin is that the microbiome plays quite an important role in eczema. And by bathing regularly, it does influence the microbiome and the balance of different bacteria on the skin.
“So there’s a lot of things at play here that means, for some people, daily bathing may be optimal; for some people, it may not be. Obviously, we want people to manage their eczema as well as they can and often just through trial and error they find a regime that works best for them. But it’s helpful to know that there isn’t some kind of categorical, ‘twice a week is the optimal’ messaging coming out.”
The study is the first in the five-year ‘Rapid Eczema Trials’ research project, which began in 2022 and is led by researchers at the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
The researchers are working in collaboration with four other UK universities: University of Southampton, University of Bristol, Birmingham City University and Imperial College London, as well as Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit.
