Melissa Joan Hart Shares Her Experience Handling Her Son’s Battle With Eczema and the Importance of Working Together as a Family
In a recent interview, Melissa Joan Hart discussed a common family struggle, Eczema. She and her husband, Mark Wilkerson, faced challenges in identifying a skin condition affecting one of their sons. Their family doctor diagnosed it as eczema, a misunderstood chronic skin condition. Hart’s goal now is to raise awareness and provide support to others.
Initially, Melissa Joan Hart was unsure about her son’s skin issue. In an exclusive interview with People, Hart revealed that it took her some time to pinpoint the skin condition affecting one of her sons. “It took us a while to figure out exactly what it was,” the 48-year-old actress said. She mentioned the difficulty parents face in distinguishing between poison ivy and a rash.
“We visited our family doctor and it was diagnosed as eczema,” said the Sabrina the Teenage Witch star, who shares three children with her husband, singer-songwriter Mark Wilkerson. Their children are Mason, 18, Braydon, 16, and Tucker, 11.
Eczema, a chronic skin disease, causes dry, itchy, and inflamed skin, as well as flare-ups, according to the Mayo Clinic. Flare-ups can vary from dry, cracked skin to oozing rashes. To educate and support individuals with eczema and other skin disorders, Hart collaborated with AbbVie to host the Science of Skin panel on August 8.
“I hope that it sheds some light on people who might feel alone,” said the former Nickelodeon star. People reported that she observes friends covering up psoriasis and eczema, and her siblings also suffer from the skin condition. “They’re constantly kind of pulling at their clothes to try to hide this thing, and that thing and we all do it with different things but especially around chronic skin disease, there seems to be the shame.”
As a caregiver, Hart emphasized the importance of working as a family with dermatologists and healthcare providers to develop a plan for managing symptoms. “Getting ahead of it is essential for our family,” she added. She ensures to treat her son’s eczema during dry and wintery times before he sleeps.
The key difference between a controlled skin disease and a chronic one is having a plan, according to Hart. “We want to protect our families in any way we can.”
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