Karen Cheah has been a community pharmacist in Margaret River for the last 16 years. When one of her boys had severe eczema at 5 years old, she tried everything to manage the symptoms of dry, itchy, irritated skin, including moisturisers, emollients, topical steroids creams, anti-histamines and bath oils. Nothing was working and the symptoms were just getting worse. She had a compounding room installed in the pharmacy 4 years ago, and researched natural alternatives to help soothe and heal her son’s skin. She found several hero ingredients that worked unbelievably well to calm the irritated and itchy skin. Best of all, the skin healed very quickly and his dry, irritated, broken and inflamed skin quickly changed to smooth, healthy and hydrated skin. He had better sleep, didn’t itch all over, and started to gain weight and grow at a normal pace, as more nutrients were diverted to growth instead of the body being in a constant state of inflammation all the time. She started sharing the balms and creams with customers at the pharmacy whom all shared the same great results. DermaGen by Botanical Chemist was trade-marked, and since September 2019, the products have been manufactured, sold and distributed to over 600 pharmacies around Australia. Karen also spends her time educating other pharmacy staff and customers on the symptoms of Topical Steroid Withdrawal (TSW) so that these potent medications can be used safely. She has taken part in exhibitions by Wounds Australia to raise awareness of the healing properties of Manuka Oil and Propolis in healing minor wounds so that sores, abrasions, grazes, and blisters heal quicker. The company also invests a large part of it’s profit (through the platform RAAISE) in businesses that come up with innovative ideas to combat Climate change and produce solutions that are better for the environment.
