One Day, One Community, One Step Toward Living Well With Eczema

For the millions of Americans living with eczema, the condition is rarely just a skin issue. It is disrupted sleep, limited daily activities, mental health challenges and a profound sense of isolation that can be hard to put into words, especially to people who have never experienced it. Kristin Belleson, president and CEO of the National Eczema Association, understands that reality. And this year, she is bringing something new directly into the communities where patients live.

The NEA has launched Living Well With Eczema, a free, one-day event series coming to three cities in 2026: New York City on August 1; Columbus, Ohio, on August 22; and St. Louis, Missouri, on September 26. The events represent a deliberate departure from the NEA's traditional annual conference format.

“We wanted to do something slightly different this year, [with] smaller regional events where the attendees could get up-close access to world-class eczema experts through a full day of presentations, conversations, and Q&A,” Belleson explained, adding that the format culminates in a dedicated ask-the-expert and peer support session. The goal, she said, is to reach people who may not be able to travel to the national expo each year but deserve the same level of access to expertise and community in their own backyard.

More Than a Skin Condition

One of the central design principles of Living Well With Eczema is the recognition that eczema's reach extends far beyond what is visible on the skin. Belleson was clear that the curriculum is built with that in mind. “Coping with eczema is not the same as living well with it,” she said, “and many patients still continue to have to deal with poor sleep, limitations, itching, mental health challenges.” The programming is designed to be accessible to anyone regardless of where they are in their journey, drawing on NEA's own research, feedback from health care providers and direct input from patients about what they are actually working through.

The Power of Peer Connection

If there is one thing Belleson returned to throughout the conversation, it is the transformative power of being in a room with other people who understand. “I think many times it's a sense of relief,” she said. “It's a sense of belonging. It is seeing someone that looks like you, and we all know those things make everyone feel a bit more comfortable.” For patients, that moment of recognition can be profound. “We find a lot of our attendees come once and they continue to create lifelong friends, peers that understand what they're dealing with,” Belleson noted. For people who feel alone in their diagnosis, the message is direct: There are others out there experiencing exactly what you are experiencing, and events like this exist to connect you.

Why Now Is the Right Time to Reengage

Eczema treatment has expanded meaningfully over the last handful of years, with new biologics and targeted therapies offering options that simply did not exist before. But Belleson is careful not to reduce the conversation to treatment alone. “Treatment experience isn't measured by skin appearance alone,” she said. “There's still a lot of other things they're navigating.” For patients who feel like they have already tried everything, the Living Well events offer something that goes beyond a clinical update: the tools and confidence to advocate for themselves. “We're empowering patients to advocate for their own care,” Belleson said, “including how to talk to a health care provider about sleep or relationships or quality of life, and not just about visible symptoms.”

Belleson closed with the kind of honesty that patients rarely hear. Acknowledging that there is currently no cure for eczema, she kept her focus on what is within reach. “Sometimes that is a day of education where you learn one or two new things that will help your journey be a little bit more easy and more successful,” she said. For a community that has often been told to simply manage and cope, that framing is its own kind of relief.

Registration for the NYC event is now closed, but space is still available for the Columbus, O.H. and Saint Louis, M.O. dates. While the event is free and open to all, registration is required.