Eczema is a skin condition that affects over 30 million people in the United States leaving them with patches of skin that have become inflamed, itchy, cracked, and rough while some types of the condition can even cause blisters. October is Eczema Awareness Month and former “Sister, Sister” star Tia Mowry-Hardrict spoke with People about bringing awareness to the condition.
The former star of “The Game” was diagnosed with eczema when she was in her 20s and revealed that it was a hereditary condition that her mother also suffers from. She stated that she had the condition as a child as well before she was diagnosed.
“Eczema is definitely a chronic condition that’s very prominent within the African American community, but unfortunately there’s a huge percentage of people suffering with eczema and it actually goes underdiagnosed. And that happens to be a part of my story. I’m definitely a part of that percentage. When I was young, I had these round spots on my back and on my arms, and they were raised and they were itchy. But when my mother would take me to the pediatrician, the doctor told us they were sunspots … and that was definitely not what I had,” Mowry-Hardrict revealed.
The Hollywood actress further added that the beauty industry was not concerned at the time with targeting products to help people of color and is happy that times have changed.
“Where there’s lack of visibility, there was no information, there were no educational tools, there were no resources. So, we didn’t really know how to identify eczema on our skin tones,” she continued.
To help put a spotlight on eczema, Mowry-Hardict partnered with Aveeno to promote the beauty company’s SkinVisibility campaign, which raises awareness of the underdiagnosis of eczema for African Americans and works to increase visibility for the community in the beauty industry. She also sat with Aveeno Principal Scientist Sabrina Henry this week for an Instagram Live interview and discussed the lack of visibility for Black skincare in the beauty industry as well as skincare treatment.
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