Tia Mowry Partners With Aveeno To Raise Awareness About Eczema

Tia Mowry works with Aveeno to bring awareness about eczema for African Americans.

While honoring Eczema Awareness Month, the actress, 43, shared her story in hopes of raising awareness for people who might be suffering from atopic dermatitis without getting properly diagnosed, as per People.

"Eczema is definitely a chronic condition that's very prominent within the African American community, but unfortunately, there's a huge percentage of people suffering with eczema, and it actually goes underdiagnosed," Mowry said. "And that happens to be a part of my story. I'm definitely a part of that percentage."

The "Twitches" star was diagnosed with eczema when she was in her 20s. However, she revealed that her skin condition actually began when she was a child. Both she and her mother had eczema, but they weren't aware of what it was.

"When I was young, I had these round spots on my back on my arms, and they were raised, and they were itchy," Mowry recalled. "But when my mother would take me to the pediatrician, the doctor told us they were sunspots… and that was definitely not what I had."

The former Disney star also called out the beauty industry's lack of products for Black skin.

"Where there's lack of visibility, there was no information, there were no educational tools, there were no resources. So, we didn't really know how to identify eczema on our skin tones," she said.

Mowry "felt alone" following her diagnosis as she didn't know anyone else going through the same skin dilemma, particularly another person of color.

"It was overwhelming, especially being in the public eye, like how do you deal with this?" Mowry said.

Mowry eventually decided to make a change by partnering with Aveeno. Apart from finding relief for her atopic dermatitis, she also worked with the skincare company for their #SkinVisibility campaign, which raises awareness of the underdiagnosis of eczema for African Americans. In addition, the cause also aims to increase visibility for the community in the beauty industry.

"I feel like that's why I'm extremely passionate about representation and why it is so important. When you see someone that resonates with you or that looks like you, it makes a huge impact," Mowry shared. "And so when there is no visibility — when you, as a community, are not being included in marketing and advertising, you feel not included."

The "Family Reunion" actress' kids, daughter Cairo Tiahna, 3, and son Cree Taylor, 10, also suffer from eczema, and her newfound knowledge has been helping her take care of their skin flare-ups.

With new information, she was able to improve her diet and "saw a huge shift and a change with my flare-ups."

"Support, I feel like, is the most important thing and to be able to have someone to talk to," Mowry said of her spouse, Cory Hardrict, 41. "I didn't know many people besides my mother that were suffering from eczema and not too many people were talking about it. So it was really nice to have that built-in support from my husband."