CBD for eczema and psoriasis: what the trials measured

Atopic eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that comes and goes in flare-ups. Of all the forms of eczema, it is the most studied and the only one in which CBD has been tested against a placebo.

The trial appeared in 2022 in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. Each patient was randomly given one of three creams: a formula combining CBD and aspartame, a cream containing CBD alone, or a placebo. Neither the patients nor the investigators knew which cream was which. The main outcome was the ISGA score, the doctor's overall rating of the skin, on which 0 means clear skin.

After 14 days, the 57 patients analysed showed an ISGA drop of 1.28 points with the combination, 0.81 with CBD alone and 0.71 with the placebo. The combination was the only one to reach statistical significance. Skin rated "clear or almost clear" followed the same order, in 50%, 20% and 15% of patients.

This result has three limits. Each group held only about twenty people. Follow-up lasted two weeks, for a disease that runs over years. The formula that stood out also contains a second active ingredient, so its result cannot be credited to CBD.

Plaque psoriasis is another chronic inflammatory disease. It thickens the skin into red plaques covered with scales. In a randomised double-blind trial posted online on 29 December 2025 in the Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 28 participants took either an oral CBD oil at 60 mg a day or a placebo.

Its main outcome was the PASI score, which rates how widespread and severe the plaques are. The authors conclude that CBD oil did not significantly reduce psoriasis severity. Itching was lower at week eight, a secondary outcome, and side effects were mild to moderate and similar in both groups. When a trial misses its main goal, a positive secondary outcome is only a lead for further testing.

The CBD in this trial was swallowed. The trial tells you nothing about a cream or any other product applied to the skin.

The studies often cited in favour of CBD for skin rest on weaker evidence. The table lists them from the weakest to the strongest.

The idea came from the laboratory. In 2007, Wilkinson and Williamson showed that several cannabinoids slow the growth of human keratinocytes in culture, through a mechanism that relies little on the CB1 and CB2 receptors. Keratinocytes make up most of the outer layer of the skin. What happens to cells in a dish does not show what happens in diseased skin.

The 2020 study followed 16 people with self-reported eczema, who filled in an online questionnaire before and after two weeks of using a cannabinoid gel. There was no comparison group. The 2019 study is a retrospective series of 20 patients who used a commercial ointment for three months, and the paper does not state the ointment's CBD content.

A 2025 review in the Journal of Cannabis Research concludes that topical use of cannabinoids remains limited by insufficient clinical experience and a lack of robust evidence on their efficacy and safety. Our overview of what CBD clinical studies really show comes to the same conclusion for other uses.

The legal line is clear. Article L. 5111-1 of the French Public Health Code defines a medicine as any substance "presented as having curative or preventive properties with regard to human diseases". Whatever its formula, a cream sold "for eczema" becomes a medicine through its presentation alone, and without a marketing authorisation it is illegal. Epidyolex, the only CBD-based medicine authorised in France, is an oral solution reserved for certain rare epilepsies, as our article on CBD and epilepsy explains.

A cosmetic cares for, protects or perfumes healthy skin. Its claims are governed by Regulation (EU) No 655/2013 and its six common criteria: legal compliance, truthfulness, evidential support, honesty, fairness and informed decision-making. From these, the Commission's technical document on cosmetic claims derives three rules that apply directly to CBD creams:

• a result obtained in vitro cannot be presented as a result on the skin;
• a claim attributing an ingredient's properties to the product must prove that the ingredient is present at an effective concentration;
• performance must not be presented beyond what the available evidence supports.

The European CosIng database lists the cosmetic functions declared for cannabidiol: skin conditioning, skin protecting, antioxidant, anti-sebum. None of them is therapeutic. The six criteria are reviewed one at a time in our article on permitted claims.

On 26 March 2026, the European Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) adopted an opinion on cannabidiol in cosmetic products, which was published on 24 April 2026. The committee considers CBD safe up to 0.19% in cosmetics applied to the skin and in products used in the mouth, such as toothpaste. THC present as an impurity is capped at 0.00025%. Products that may be inhaled fall outside the opinion.

A level of 0.19% equals 1.9 mg of CBD per gram of cream. Keep three points in mind:

• the opinion only becomes binding once the Commission amends the annexes of the Cosmetics Regulation;
• it deals with safety and does not address efficacy;
• the committee itself says its data were limited, since its call for data drew too few submissions.

Our guide to assessing a CBD cream, balm or gel explains how to read a cream's label, ingredient list and storage advice, and our articles on sensitive skin and oily skin go further. The article on side effects covers the known side effects of CBD. An eczema or psoriasis flare-up needs a doctor, and no shop can stand in for one.