Test, Don’t Guess! The Labs You Need to Uncover the Root Causes of Your Eczema

By Dr. Diane Angela Fong, ND

Living with eczema can feel like a constant battle—itching, inflammation, rashes, flares, and a seemingly endless cycle of symptom management. What makes it worse? Not knowing why it’s happening. Many people try creams, prescriptions, and elimination diets, yet still struggle with persistent symptoms.

If this sounds like your journey, it may be time to dig deeper—beneath the skin. Advanced lab testing can uncover the root causes of eczema, helping you understand your body’s internal imbalances and create a path toward long-term healing.

In this blog, we’ll share the most important lab tests we use at Cleanbody to identify the true triggers behind eczema. From gut imbalances to hidden toxins to food sensitivities, these labs provide powerful insights to guide personalized treatment and finally get relief from the itch.

Why Lab Testing is Essential for Eczema

While conventional eczema treatment often focuses on symptom suppression, it rarely asks: What’s causing this? At Cleanbody, we take a root-cause approach. And that begins with lab testing.

Eczema is not just a skin condition—it’s a signal from the body that something deeper is out of balance. Testing can reveal hidden issues like:

• Chronic inflammation

• Microbiome disruption

• Toxic burden (e.g., mold, metals, chemicals)

• Hormonal imbalances

• Nutrient deficiencies

• Food sensitivities

By uncovering these hidden triggers, we can create a treatment plan that supports your skin from the inside out.

Advanced Lab Testing to Uncover Eczema Root Causes

At Cleanbody, we offer a wide range of advanced lab tests specifically designed to uncover the root causes of chronic symptoms—including persistent eczema. These tests provide a deeper look into what’s going on beneath the surface by identifying hidden triggers like inflammation, toxic overload, food sensitivities, and microbiome imbalances.

Many of these labs can be ordered directly by the client and come with step-by-step educational modules and a one-on-one consultation to review your results and plan next steps. Our most commonly used tests for eczema-related concerns include:

• Food Sensitivity Testing: Identifies delayed immune reactions (IgG) to common foods that may be triggering inflammation, gut issues, and eczema flares.

• Toxic Burden Assessment: Measures your body’s load of heavy metals, mold toxins, and environmental chemicals—all of which can disrupt immune function and drive chronic skin inflammation.

• Comprehensive Health Panel: Analyzes a broad set of biomarkers, including hormone levels, nutrient deficiencies, detox function, and inflammation markers, to give a full picture of your internal health and potential eczema drivers.

• Comprehensive Stool Test: Evaluates the balance of bacteria, yeast, viruses, and parasites in the gut microbiome, along with digestive and inflammatory markers. Gut imbalance is one of the most common root causes of eczema.

These tests help us move beyond surface-level symptom management and get to the why behind your eczema—so you can begin a targeted, personalized healing journey.

👉 Read on to explore how each test works and what it can reveal about your skin.

Food Sensitivity Testing: A Key to Unlocking Eczema Triggers

Food sensitivity testing is a cornerstone of Cleanbody’s approach to identifying the root causes of eczema. Unlike true food allergies (IgE-mediated), food sensitivities involve delayed immune responses, typically mediated by IgG antibodies. These reactions can take hours or even days to appear—making it incredibly difficult to identify the offending foods without testing.

For many of our eczema patients, these hidden sensitivities are a major driver of skin inflammation, itchiness, and flares.

Do you struggle with any of the following symptoms commonly linked to food sensitivities and eczema?

• Chronic itching or rashes (including eczema)

• Skin redness, dryness, or flaking

• Bloating or abdominal discomfort

• Gas or irregular bowel movements

• Fatigue or brain fog

• Headaches or migraines

• Muscle or joint pain

• Nausea or food-related discomfort

• Asthma-like symptoms or congestion

If you notice that your eczema worsens after eating certain foods—or if you just can't seem to figure out what's triggering your flares—food sensitivity testing could provide the clarity you need.

Cleanbody offers two levels of Food Sensitivity Testing For Direct Order (and more if you work directly with us):

Food Sensitivity Basic Panel: This panel evaluates immune responses to 96 common foods in the Western diet, providing foundational insights into potential dietary triggers and their impact on inflammatory pathways.

Food Sensitivity Complete Panel: Building upon the Basic Panel, the Complete Panel expands the assessment to include 209 foods and food additives, offering a more comprehensive evaluation of dietary sensitivities and potential contributors to chronic inflammation.

By pinpointing foods that are quietly driving inflammation in the body, we can help you eliminate the root causes of your eczema from within. Personalized dietary changes based on your results can lead to profound improvements in skin health, energy, and overall well-being.

👉 Learn more about ordering these labs on our Cleanbody Labs page.

Total Tox Burden: Are Toxins Fueling Your Eczema?

Environmental toxins, mold, and heavy metals are often overlooked contributors to eczema. These substances accumulate in the body over time, burdening your detox pathways, disrupting immune function, and triggering chronic inflammation that can manifest as persistent, itchy, or worsening skin conditions. At Cleanbody, we use the Total Tox Burden Test to evaluate three major categories of toxins that may be contributing to eczema:

• Heavy Metals (e.g., lead, mercury, arsenic): Present in contaminated water, dental fillings, certain seafood, and industrial pollution

• Environmental Chemicals (e.g., pesticides, plastics, industrial toxins): Found in air, water, cleaning supplies, personal care products, and food

• Mold Toxins (Mycotoxins): Hidden in homes or workplaces with water damage or poor ventilation

If your body is overwhelmed by toxins, your skin may become one of the first places to show distress—especially if your detox pathways (liver, gut, lymph) are impaired.

Are you experiencing any of the following symptoms commonly seen in individuals with a high toxin load?

• Chronic eczema or itchy skin rashes

• Worsening eczema in damp or moldy environments

• Heightened skin sensitivity to skincare products or environmental triggers

• Fatigue and brain fog

• Headaches or light sensitivity

• Anxiety or mood swings

• Sleep disturbances

• Skin burning, redness, or unusual sensations

• Sensitivity to smells, chemicals, or certain foods

• Respiratory symptoms or congestion

• Joint stiffness or muscle aches

• Digestive issues like bloating, gas, or diarrhea

If these symptoms resonate with you—especially alongside eczema that just won’t go away—it's worth evaluating your toxic burden.

The Total Tox Burden test provides insight into what your body is holding onto—and how that might be affecting your skin. Once identified, we can guide you through a personalized detox plan to reduce your toxic load, support your liver and lymphatic system, and relieve inflammation from the inside out.

👉 Learn more about ordering this lab and whether it's right for you on our Cleanbody Labs page.

Comprehensive Stool Testing: Healing Eczema Starts in the Gut

When it comes to eczema, the skin is often a reflection of what's happening inside the gut. Research has shown that gut imbalances—like leaky gut, candida overgrowth, or dysbiosis—can significantly disrupt immune regulation and contribute to chronic skin inflammation.

At Cleanbody, we use comprehensive stool testing to evaluate the gut microbiome’s role in eczema. This advanced stool test helps us uncover infections, imbalances, and digestive dysfunction that may be driving or exacerbating your skin symptoms.

Why does gut health matter for eczema?

Over 70% of your immune system resides in the gut. When the gut barrier is compromised or your microbiome is out of balance, it can lead to systemic inflammation, immune dysregulation, and hypersensitivity reactions—including eczema flares.

The Gut Zoomer analyzes:

• Bacteria, yeast, viruses, and parasites that can trigger immune activation or damage the gut lining

• Markers of inflammation, digestion, and intestinal permeability (leaky gut)

• Microbial diversity, which impacts how well your immune system functions and whether it’s prone to overreaction (as in eczema)

Eczema-related signs of gut imbalance include:

• Flares after eating certain foods

• Itching that worsens with stress or antibiotic use

• History of chronic constipation, diarrhea, or bloating

• Coexisting autoimmune symptoms

• Trouble tolerating probiotics or fermented foods

By identifying hidden infections, imbalances, or digestive dysfunctions, comprehensive stool testing allows us to design a personalized plan to repair your gut lining, calm inflammation, and support skin healing from the inside out.

If you’ve tried everything topically and still struggle with eczema, your gut could be the missing piece.

👉 Learn more about ordering the Gut Zoomer directly on our Cleanbody Labs page.

Healthspan Assessment Panel: Reveal the Hidden Imbalances Behind Eczema

Eczema is more than skin deep—it’s often a sign that something is out of balance internally. Cleanbody’s Healthspan Assessment Panel is a powerful diagnostic tool that helps uncover those hidden imbalances by analyzing a broad spectrum of biomarkers related to skin, immune, and metabolic health.

This comprehensive blood panel gives us insight into how well your body is functioning—and whether key systems that impact eczema are overworked, under-functioning, or inflamed.

Here’s how it helps identify eczema root causes:

• Hormone Levels: We assess cortisol (stress hormone), thyroid function, sex hormones (like estrogen and progesterone), and insulin. Imbalances in these hormones can contribute to skin inflammation, impaired healing, poor sleep, and eczema flares—especially in adults and during hormonal shifts (puberty, postpartum, perimenopause).

• Organ Function Markers: Eczema can worsen when the liver, kidneys, or digestive system are not detoxifying efficiently. This panel evaluates liver enzymes, kidney function, and cardiovascular markers to see if your detox pathways or circulation may be contributing to skin congestion and chronic inflammation.

• Nutrient Deficiencies: Low levels of nutrients like vitamin D, zinc, omega-3s, and B vitamins are common in people with eczema—and all play key roles in skin barrier repair, immune balance, and inflammation control. This panel identifies which nutrients you may be missing so we can replenish them effectively.

• Markers of Systemic Inflammation: Inflammatory markers like CRP and cytokines can indicate whether your body is in a state of chronic inflammation, which is often seen in moderate to severe eczema. Understanding your inflammatory baseline helps us track improvement and guide treatment.

The Healthspan Assessment Panel gives us a bird’s-eye view of your body’s internal landscape and helps us connect the dots between your symptoms and the underlying dysfunctions causing them.

If you’re ready to move beyond creams and surface-level solutions, this panel can provide the clarity needed to develop a personalized plan for true, lasting eczema relief.

👉 Learn more about ordering this test on our Cleanbody Labs page.

Personalized Plans For Eczema Relief

Eczema isn’t just a skin issue—it’s often the result of deeper imbalances in the gut, immune system, detox organs, or hormone levels. That’s why Cleanbody’s approach to eczema relief goes far beyond creams and surface treatments.

We develop personalized care plans based on your unique food sensitivities, nutrient deficiencies, toxin exposures, gut health, hormone status, and overall metabolic profile. Each plan is designed to help calm inflammation, repair the skin barrier, and restore your body's natural balance from the inside out.

Detoxification Protocols for Eczema

If your labs reveal a high toxic burden—such as mold toxins, heavy metals, or environmental chemicals—Cleanbody practitioners may recommend a customized detoxification plan.These protocols are designed to:

• Support liver and kidney detox pathways

• Restore gut integrity and microbiome balance

• Reduce immune overactivation and skin inflammation

Detox support may include herbal formulations, targeted nutrients, binders, drainage remedies, and lifestyle changes to help eliminate toxins that are silently contributing to eczema.

Lifestyle Changes That Support Skin Healing

Our eczema plans also incorporate lifestyle modifications to support whole-body healing. These include:

• Stress management techniques to reduce cortisol spikes that worsen flares

• Movement and circulation practices to support lymphatic flow

• Sleep hygiene tips (critical for skin repair)

• Mind-body support, such as breathwork and mindfulness

These lifestyle practices, when guided by lab data, can have a transformative impact on chronic skin symptoms.

Education and Empowerment

Cleanbody provides eczema patients with educational modules, daily and weekly support, and individual visits to help them understand their lab results and take empowered action. We believe that informed patients heal faster. When you understand the why behind your eczema and how to address it, healing becomes achievable—not overwhelming. Here’s how we help:

• Empowering You With Insight:Through advanced lab testing, we help you understand what's happening beneath your skin—so you're not guessing what's triggering your eczema anymore.

• Helping You Make Informed Choices:From diet changes to detox strategies, our guidance is based on real data from your body—not trial and error.

• Supporting Whole-Body Healing:We integrate personalized nutrition, toxin reduction, gut support, hormone balancing, and stress management—because eczema is complex and your care should be, too.

Advanced Tools to Get to the Root of Your Eczema

When you work directly with our team, we may recommend additional labs depending on your eczema symptoms, such as:

• Food and Environmental Allergy: measures allergy IgE response to 150 food and environmental allergens.

• Mold Toxins: tests for the presence of toxic mold exposure by analyzing 31 of the most common mycotoxins to which humans are exposed

• Comprehensive gut analysis with additional parasite testing: includes leaky gut, microbiome, pathogens, gut health and additional parasite testing

• Cellular Nutrition Assay: measures the effect of micronutrients on immune function to identify nutrient insufficiencies

• NutraEval: evaluates over 125 biomarkers and assesses the body's functional need for 40 antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, amino acids, digestive support, and other select nutrients

• 3x4 Genetics Test: contains 36 key insights and several practical, personalized, recommendations for patients to start taking control of their health

• NeuroAdvanced Profile: measures a variety of neurotransmitters to assess neurochemical imbalances and a variety of common issues such as mood disorders, sleep problems, and ADD/ADHD

More tests, including Lyme Disease, Nasal Swab Cultures for mold, etc. are available depending on Dr. Fong's findings.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Explore the full range of labs and eczema-focused diagnostics at Cleanbody Labs. Use code LABBLOG for $100 OFF any of our direct order tests. If you're overwhelmed trying to figure out which tests to run or what’s truly driving your eczema, we recommend booking a Root Cause Consultation.

Our team will evaluate your symptoms, health history, and skin presentation to determine which lab tests will give you the most meaningful insights.

💡 Bonus for California residents: Some labs may be eligible for insurance billing through our practice.

You may benefit from a Root Cause Consultation if:

• You have moderate to severe eczema

• You experience multiple health symptoms, such as fatigue, bloating, brain fog, or allergies

• You’ve tried many approaches but haven’t found lasting relief

• You’re not sure what’s triggering your eczema or what to do next

Our personalized evaluations help uncover the root causes of eczema so that you can stop guessing and start healing.

👉 Book your Root Cause Consultation here to get started.

Got Questions?

We are going live to discuss this topic on Wednesday, April 16 at 12:30 PM PST! Watch the live or check out the replay here:

About the Author:

Dr. Diane Angela Fong, ND, is the CEO and founder of Cleanbody, a wellness company dedicated to treating and preventing chronic disease. She is the creator of the Cleanbody Method, which follows a three-step process: Evaluate (digging into the root causes of chronic disease using lab testing and other evaluation tools), Optimize (enhancing health foundations by addressing nutrition, lifestyle, and toxic exposures), and Support (optimizing organ functions through healing protocols).

Medical Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

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