about us
The DermaGen Story
Our brand's mission is to raise awareness on Topical Steroid Withdrawal Symptoms and to continue to develop products that nourish and heal the skin barrier, as opposed to thinning it, ultimately reducing the reliance on topical steroids and helping to prevent the side-effects from the over-use of these products.
We aim to change the way the symptoms of eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis are currently managed.
Topical steroids aren’t always an answer
As a mother and as a pharmacist, Karen Cheah knows topical steroids aren’t always an answer to skin issues in the long run.
This is especially true where the skin is thinner or for babies and children.
When Karen's young son developed severe eczema and, naturally, she wanted to help him find a way to heal it - and that meant taking a different approach.
A Margaret River community pharmacist for 14 years, Karen had all the weapons at her disposal when her son developed eczema at four-years-old.
Her parents are pharmacists. Her brothers, too. Topical steroids, Tubifast wraps and treatment creams were familiar territory. But none of it worked. They were difficult years of attempting to manage broken skin, relentless itch, staph infection, and the sleepless nights and distress of a little boy who needed immediate relief.
Karen made the suggested dietary adjustments - cutting back on wheat, dairy and sugar - and introduced probiotic supplements. But long-term solutions couldn’t address her son’s tiredness from the lack of sleep caused by relentless itch and the everyday pain of inflamed skin.
And then came the side effects: damaged and over reactive skin that wouldn’t heal. Topical steroid withdrawal wasn’t something she had come across until it presented in her own son. Like many others, Karen had believed the only way forward was to keep using the strong steroids to suppress the eczema flare-up. But it wasn’t working. And Karen knew she had more to offer her son.
When they installed a compounding room in the pharmacy two years ago, Karen was able to experiment with different types of creams, balms and ointments combined with botanical extracts and essential oils to help soothe the symptoms of mild eczema and dermatitis.
The results were just amazing.
Karen and her pharmacy team had such fantastic results and feedback from the people who were using the Botanical Chemist range of products that Karen formulated, including her son for his eczema.
It is from her personal experience and their positive feedback that DermaGen by Botanical Chemist products was created.
Not just a moisturiser…
Our products target 5 different problem areas.
We get asked a lot what makes our products different from the rest.
Well, it is simple...
Some ointments mainly have liquid paraffin or white soft paraffin as their base. Other balms have coconut oil, or olive oil as their main ingredient. Whilst these ingredients do hydrate the skin by forming a barrier and preventing moisture loss, they don't have any healing, soothing or skin renewal properties.
Manuka Oil and Propolis
Manuka Oil and Propolis have anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They have been used by mankind for hundreds of year for their medicinal and healing attributes.
Broken Skin
On skin that is broken, and inflamed, if there is a bacterial infection, this can delay skin healing, so we need to address the issue of minor infections for the wounds to heal and apply ingredients that help support skin renewal and regeneration.
Moisture
Broken and inflamed skin also loses a lot of moisture as water evaporates through the broken skin. The natural oils and waxes in our products help form a barrier to minimise the water loss, keeping skin hydrated for longer.
The skin's Microbiome
Our skin is like our gut, it has millions of bacteria, fungal, viruses living on it, in balance, also known as the skin's microbiome. When the skin is broken, or inflamed, there is a risk that these microorganisms get into the wound and colonise, delaying wound healing.
Immune Response
The bacteria itself releases a toxic allergen called a super-allergen which further triggers the immune system, causing more redness and irritation.
Our products not only soothe and hydrate the skin, they nourish and strengthen the skin barrier, promote skin regeneration and prevent minor skin infections by supporting skin healing ❤
You may have tried everything else on the market, but you have not tried products like these before.
Not just a moisturiser…
Our products target 5 different problem areas.
We get asked a lot what makes our products different from the rest.
Well, it is simple...
Some ointments mainly have liquid paraffin or white soft paraffin as their base. Other balms have coconut oil, or olive oil as their main ingredient. Whilst these ingredients do hydrate the skin by forming a barrier and preventing moisture loss, they don't have any healing, soothing or skin renewal properties.
Manuka Oil and Propolis
Manuka Oil and Propolis have anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
They have been used by mankind for hundreds of year for their medicinal and healing attributes.
Broken Skin
On skin that is broken, and inflamed, if there is a bacterial infection, this can delay skin healing, so we need to address the issue of minor infections for the wounds to heal and apply ingredients that help support skin renewal and regeneration.
Moisture
Broken and inflamed skin also loses a lot of moisture as water evaporates through the broken skin.
The natural oils and waxes in our products help form a barrier to minimise the water loss, keeping skin hydrated for longer.
The skin's Microbiome
Our skin is like our gut, it has millions of bacteria, fungal, viruses living on it, in balance, also known as the skin's microbiome.
When the skin is broken, or inflamed, there is a risk that these microorganisms get into the wound and colonise, delaying wound healing.
Immune Response
The bacteria itself releases a toxic allergen called a super-allergen which further triggers the immune system, causing more redness and irritation.
Our products not only soothe and hydrate the skin, they nourish and strengthen the skin barrier, promote skin regeneration and prevent minor skin infections
by supporting skin healing ❤
You may have tried everything else on the market, but you have not tried products like these before.