Pham Dinh Vien

Eczema is a skin condition that affects many people in the world. It is characterized by dryness and redness of the skin which cause itching and, sometimes burning sensations. The causes for eczema are unknown unless there is a genetic predisposition for it. On the other hand there are a lot of factors which help develop and aggravate the already existing problem. It is known that the occurrence of this condition is mainly connected to the overactive response of the immune system to a bacterium which lives on the skin or to an irritant element in the surrounding environment.

Among these factors you should be aware of the following ones in order to be able to cure eczema or, at least to diminish the symptoms: spending too much time in the vicinity of people who have a history of allergies and asthma, getting in contact with dust, rough or coarse materials, household cleaning products or other irritants or being around pets. Two other factors which might, if not considered, hinder the efforts to cure eczema, are stress and upper respiratory infections and colds.

In the attempt to cure eczema you should also establish the typology of the condition so that the treatment is accurate. Eczematous conditions have been classified into two big groups: common and less common eczema. Therefore, if your condition is not in the former group, you should definitely see a doctor before you apply any of the treatments you know of. Anyway, eczema is not a contagious disease and there are many things you can do and many products on the market that you can use to cure or keep it under control.

Now, here are a few simple steps you can take to either cure eczema or avoid developing it. Stay away from lotions or cosmetics that have fragrances that can irritate the skin; avoid contact with household detergents and other cleaning substances or any substances and materials that are irritant to the skin. In the process to cure eczema it is also important to be careful about the kind of clothes you wear, and cotton makes the best choice possible.

It is also very important to create an environment that is stress free, to avoid rapid dramatic changes of temperature and activities that make you sweat. Try not to scratch your skin as scratching will definitely worsen your condition. On the contrary try to put up with the itchy sensation until you find the proper cream/ointment to apply on the affected areas.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Infant or baby eczema is a condition that scares many parents. This condition appears on the face, upper chest, scalp and neck in the first months of life. Later on it may occur also on the forearms and shins. There are a number of facts regarding baby eczema that parents should be aware of. Parents should notice if there occur tiny blisters which may open and leak some fluid or if the baby’s skin is very dry overall. If the baby’s condition is really serious, it may involve the whole skin. Generally speaking such manifestations do not involve the area around the mouth, the nose or the diaper areas that are usually free of eczema. If the areas of skin on the forearms and shins are thickened between the ages of twelve and eighteen months, parents should not be worried since this happens due to babies’ crawling a lot.

Eczema or dermatitis, with baby eczema included, are terms used to describe some skin conditions recognized by symptoms such as very itchy and dry skin, reddening, swelling, cracking or scaling of the skin. Though eczema can occur almost anywhere on the body, in babies it mainly appears on the scalp, chest, and forehead as well as around joints. In very severe cases, baby eczema can become extremely itchy and irritating for the baby and it can even disturb their sleep. Very many babies suffer from atopic eczema which is usually hereditary. This condition tends to occur and develop somewhere around the age of two or three months. Atopic eczema represents an oversensitivity of the immune system with reactions of the sufferers to environmental aspects that normally do not elicit an immune response. Whether babies develop eczema because other members of the family suffer from atopic conditions such as asthma, hay fever or eczema it is still not very clear and certain. Another possibility for babies to develop baby eczema may be prolonged exposure to a specific allergen.

Regarding the treatment of baby eczema it must be pointed out that there is no specific catch-all treatment, unluckily, since it is an allergic condition. Fortunately several treatments and remedies have been developed and they can help improve the suffering babies’ conditions significantly. These remedies for baby eczema include moisturizing, careful bath times, avoiding detergents, using cotton clothes, being careful about the babies’ diets, and keeping pets away. Besides, parents should make sure they keep the baby’s environments dust free, as well as minimize scratching through cutting the baby’s nails short.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Eczema is a skin disease that affects people of all ages, but for both genders the common cause is usually genetic. Where does eczema appear? Well, it can be seen almost everywhere on the skin. You can recognize eczema by the following symptoms: dryness of skin, repeated rashes, redness of the skin, skin swelling/edema, itching, crusting, blistering, flaking, oozing, cracking and even bleeding. Besides these, occasionally, temporary skin discoloration might appear due to lesions that have already healed. However, scarring, in eczema is quite a rare consequence. The hand eczema is a very common condition. It affects 10% of women and 4% of men, according to Ronald Vender, MD, FRCCP. Apparently, hand eczema has been reported mainly by people who work as homemakers, bartenders, mechanics, hairdressers, surgeons or dental workers, as well as by parents. What do all these people have in common? The answer is that they work in wet environments; therefore, humidity is a favoring factor for this skin condition.

Approximately 75% of people who experience eczema have the type called contact dermatitis. This can be irritant or allergic and it is difficult to make the difference between them sometimes. Hand eczema differs in severity from one patient to another but it usually begins with mild dryness and a little redness. Initially it manifests on fingers and between them and it can become very itchy and scaly. Like the other types of eczema, in time, hand eczema may also develop cracking, swelling and blisters on the skin of the hand. If it is not treated properly and in due time, it will probably spread to arms and feet.

The most common cause of hand eczema is the repeated wetting and drying of hands. There are three situations that show a possibility to develop hand eczema: if you had atopic eczema in your childhood, if you have a history of hay fever or asthma, and if you have psoriasis. Fortunately there are a few things you can do to ease your hand eczema symptoms and get rid of the condition. Besides the practical advice that any health care provider will give you in such situations there are also some pharmaceutical products from which your doctor will surely select the best. It is good for you to try to avoid washing dishes by hand, but if this is not possible, use loose rubber gloves with a pair of cotton gloves inside to avoid both contact with water and detergents and sweating of the hands caused by the rubber or vinyl gloves worn directly on the hands.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Eczema is a term used for a set of health conditions that make the skin become inflamed or irritated. The most common type of eczema known is called atopic dermatitis or atopic eczema. What does atopic mean? Well, atopic refers to a group of diseases with an often inherited tendency to develop other allergic conditions, such as asthma and hay fever. This means that the problems are rooted in a genetic background and most of the time inherited. Although studies that you might come across while looking for information about eczema will tell you that eczema causes are not known, we can still discuss of a number of causes, mainly connected with the environments in which eczema patients live, and which influence the evolution of the condition significantly.

According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the prevalence of atopic eczema is growing, and it affects 9% to 30% of the U.S. population. It is typical in young children and infants. While many infants who develop the condition outgrow it by their second year of life, some people continue to go through such symptoms during their entire life. Nevertheless, with appropriate treatment, the disease can be controlled in the most of the cases. The exact eczema causes are not known, but it is believed that the occurrence of the condition is in connection with an overactive response of the body’s immune system to a bacterium that normally lives on the skin or to an irritant factor in the environment. Another of the eczema causes seems to be the coexistence in the vicinity of family members with a history of other allergies and asthma; eczema is commonly found in such families.

Among eczema causes, one that may also be considered in the case of patients who suffer flare-ups of this itchy rash, is the patients’ reaction to certain substances or conditions in the surrounding environments. Therefore, exposure to rough or coarse materials for some, feeling too cold or too hot in others’ cases, as well as getting in contact with household products (soap, detergents, etc) and living near animals may lead to outbreaks of this condition. Besides all these, colds and upper respiratory infections could also be blamed for this disease. To make things even worse, that is to further strengthen the disease, we have another element to consider: stress. Although there is no cure, most people can effectively manage their skin condition with medical treatment and by avoiding irritants. At least the disease is not contagious!

Popularity: 18% [?]

Eczema or dermatitis eczema is a skin condition characterized by dryness and redness of the skin. There are other symptoms to this condition, too, such as repeated rashes, tissue swelling, the appearance of crusts, cracking of the skin as well as blister formation and even bleeding. Sometimes in the healed skin areas, a temporary skin discoloration may appear. It is only rarely that scarring occurs. Actually, dermatitis eczema is an acute phase of eczema.

Dermatitis eczema seems to affect about one in five people at some time in life. This condition is caused by a number of different factors and occurs in various patterns. You should know that the terms eczema and dermatitis are used interchangeably quite often, and you will also find it called eczematous dermatitis. This condition can be chronic, acute or both. Chronic eczema or dermatitis labels a longstanding irritable area and it is often darker than its surrounding area; it is thickened and very much scratched. Acute eczema is represented by a rapidly evolving red rash which can be both blistered and swollen. The state in between the two described above, is known as sub -acute eczema.

A factor that can trigger or aggravate dermatitis eczema by, presumably, suppressing the normal immune mechanisms, seems to be psychological stress. Here are some types of dermatitis eczema: irritant contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, dry skin, seborrhoeic dermatitis and dandruff, nummular dermatitis, otitis externa or gravitational dermatitis. In treating this condition it is very important to identify and tackle the causing factors. Therefore, depending on the causes and types of dermatitis under discussion in each case, the treatment varies.

In treating the different types of dermatitis eczema you can consider one or more of the following: bathing, clothing, emollients, topical steroids, irritants, creams, antihistamines, antibiotics, as well as other treatments like systemic steroids, photo-therapy, azathioprine and other more complicated ones for severe cases. It is useful for you to reduce the number of times you take baths, as showers are better; besides, try to replace standard soap with a substitute such as a mild detergent soap-free cleanser.

It is also good to wear soft cool clothes and to stay away from wool. Moreover, avoid contact of your skin with dust, water, detergents, solvents and stay away from injuries. Use emollients especially after bathing and when it itches, do not use perfumed products. Make sure you use topical steroid cream or ointment adequately. Antibiotics will be recommended by doctors if your dermatitis eczema is caused or complicated by some infection. Antihistamines are especially useful during the night to reduce irritation.

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There are numerous possibilities to approach eczema medically but before discussing eczema treatment, maybe it would be useful to know a few things with regard to this disease, what causes it, what types of eczema there are and, last but not least, eczema treatment possibilities. The symptoms are equally important before establishing a course of action. Eczema is a form of dermatitis or inflammation of the epidermis; the term eczema is used to refer to a broad range of skin conditions that are persistent. Among the common symptoms you might experience dryness of skin, repeated rashes, redness of the skin, skin swelling/edema, itching, crusting, blistering, flaking, oozing, cracking and even bleeding. Besides these, temporary skin discoloration might appear sometimes due to lesions that are healed. However scarring is a rare consequence.

The causes of eczema are not very well known but this condition is mainly an inherited one. Therefore, the causes lack relevancy for the type of eczema treatment a doctor will decide on. Without a correct identification of the typology, the treatment is not possible. A basic reference material here is the 2001 European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI)’s published position paper in which the nomenclature of allergy-related diseases including atopic and allergic contact eczemas are simplified and clarified. There are common eczemas like: atopic eczema, contact dermatitis, xerotic eczema, seborrhea dermatitis and less common types such as: dyshidrosis, discoid eczema, venous eczema, dermatitis herpetiformis, neurodermatitis, etc.

Apparently there is no known cure for eczema, which means that the existing treatments are meant to control the symptoms, reduce the inflammation and relieve the itching. Eczema treatment that has been tried so far includes both medications and natural remedies. The medicines used in controlling eczema belong to the corticosteroids family (ointments, pills or injections), immunomodulators, antibiotics, immunosuppressants, anti-hitch drugs, etc. Not only eczema treatment solutions proposed by medicine are important. You should not forget about the factors, the external ones, which can influence the development or evolution of eczema in one way or another. Maintaining the affected area moist, you can help skin healing and relieve the symptoms.

Popularity: 18% [?]

The treatment of eczema seems to be quite a problem for many health care providers and patients. One the one hand, you may try to use a natural treatment which means that you will have several weeks of experimentation and diet in which to figure out what exactly may cause the condition. If you have discovered that, the only thing left to do is to remove that item or aspect from your life so that you would no longer develop the eczema. In case that has not worked out as a solution to your problem, than you can start thinking of the medical treatment of eczema that involves medication based on steroids or antibiotics.

The treatment of eczema that is based on steroids is avoided by many patients because they fear the side effects that may appear as a result of steroid intake. But, if the treatment is given by a specialized doctor, a dermatologist, who closely monitors the patient and communicates very well, steroid side effects can be minimized.

The purpose of the entire steroid treatment of eczema is to hinder the development of rashes onto the skin in addition to eliminating from the patient’s life those things that cause the rash. Glucocorticosteroids (GCSs) may be administered; these are some natural hormones that have the purpose of lessening the inflammatory response in the human body.

These hormones used in the treatment of eczema may be prescribed either as lower or as stronger dosages. Generally speaking the doctor ought to start by prescribing less strong medication but, if they are dealing with tough cases in which the skin has already thickened and the rashes have turned scaly, they might resort to stronger medication. This medication may take two forms: either lotions or ointments that require application onto the skin twice a day or pills that will have to be swallowed and have a stronger impact. In some cases, dermatologists will recommend that the treatment of eczema combine both oral intake of pills and application of ointment onto the skin.

People who suffer from this condition want to avoid this type of treatment of eczema because of the side effects that may appear such as cataracts, glaucoma, gastrointestinal effects, hypertension, osteoporosis, weight gain or infections of various types. It is good to know, however, that specialists can avoid the appearance of these secondary effects by prescribing the right dosage, the right length of treatment and by recommending the patient to quit taking the medication or to consult the doctor the minute he or she discovers that there are side effects.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Treating eczema should first require that you know what it is and how to identify it. You cannot possibly know what to take without going to a doctor and let him/ her examine you. Eczema is actually a condition that turns the skin irritated or inflamed. The most common type of eczema is the one which is based on allergy to various triggers and it may be encountered in those patients who may also suffer from asthma or hay fever. This type of condition is encountered in a pretty large number of children and infants nowadays and also in adults. In some cases, the symptoms may become manifest now and then throughout the entire lifetime probably because treating eczema is not always efficient especially when medication is taken by ear.

From among the many types of symptoms, the itch is the most often encountered. Treating eczema completely means that you actually get rid of this itch and that it will not reoccur later. The same goes for the aspect of the skin which is most of the times dry and scaly.

Prevention is definitely preferred to treating eczema, there’s no doubt about it. What causes it remains unknown; experts believe that the body’s immune system reacts to some kind of bacteria that happens to live on our skin, which makes the immune system of the patients overactive from this point of view. Various chemical agents or substances may lead to this condition as well. So, if you discover what you may be allergic to and develop this condition, why wait until eczema appears and not avoid coming in contact with these substances in the first place?

As far as medication for treating eczema is concerned, specialists have not managed to come up with a cure that is applicable to all the patients and to all forms of this condition. The treatment may work on some patients and may have no effects on others. However, recent research has come up with types of medication included in the category of topical calcineurin inhibitors that seem to have better effect than what was used in the past.

If applying this treatment on your child may pose doubts as to whether it is recommendable or not, than you should talk to the doctor. Children are known to be more sensitive to medication so it is not advisable that you offer them what commercials or supermarkets advertise for. Even in the case of adults, it is widely recommended that you see a specialist before resorting to any kind of medical treatment.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Eczema is a skin condition, actually a form of inflammation of the epidermis that can be very disturbing for the patient, especially because its persistence. The symptoms for eczema are varied; they include skin dryness and redness, repeated rashes, skin inflammation, crust formation, blistering, flaking and cracking, oozing, and even bleeding; but above all, maybe the most irritant and disturbing aspect of the condition is the incredibly bad itching. Fortunately, there are several remedies and treatments for this skin disease. Among these remedies the eczema cream, properly chosen and adequately used, is really useful and comforting.

There are many pharmaceutical products in the form of cream or ointment meant to ease and treat eczema symptoms. An eczema cream is very easy to use and has good results in the treatment of the condition. Researchers have developed both natural and lab eczema cream varieties. If you search the Internet or read in specialty books you will find that there is a wide range of such products.

Yet it is advisable to ask for a doctor’s opinion and recommendation in order to get the best results from using the appropriate eczema cream well. Natural products are very good. They may contain emu oil, manuka honey, calendula, centella asiatica and, last but not least, propolis. A natural eczema cream has soothing effects, and it lessens the possibilities to get flare-ups without the long-term effects of using cortisone. Natural creams for treating eczema not only rid you of the awful itching, but they also stop the burning sensations and eliminate the dry red patches of eczema, and they do these quite fast.

Eczema cream is used as a topical agent to cover the area of irritation and provide relief. It is also used to ease the soreness and scratchiness. Some eczema cream is made as an anti-inflammatory which means that it can create some slight numbness to the immediate area where it is applied. There are eczema creams which are simply used as moisturizers to prevent the spread and inflammation of eczema. You should just apply the moisturizer at any time of the day, usually upon awakening, after taking a shower and before going to bed at night.

Many moisturizing creams are designed specifically with eczema in mind, in that they do not have any harsh chemical, perfumes or detergents of any kind, and include ingredients that soothe the skin more than regular moisturizers. Anyway, there are studies that show that not all eczema cream products are as good as praised, and the range of side effects is pretty impressive.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Eczema on babies is quite the opposite of what we all know and dream to have: smooth, milky fresh and soft skin. Twenty percent of infants nowadays end up affected by atopic eczema which is a rash that they get on their skin in various parts of their body as a result of some kind of allergic response of their immune system. It may have a scaly or flaky aspect, it may be rash-like red and look dry. Mild forms of eczema on babies may be treated by very simple means: gentle, good quality cleansers and constant moisturizing of the skin.

Why is it that this condition appears so much in infant cases? Well, one reason is that eczema on babies is tough to combat by a developing organism and skin. They do not seem to have completely developed their epidermal barrier to such conditions and the fact that they scratch unconsciously can make it even worse. Our adult skin has a top layer that serves in keeping moisture inside and irritant substances out and since infants’ skin is much more sensitive than ours, there are higher chances that eczema on babies is more often than in adults. In addition, preventing it from turning worse is more difficult with infants as communication is impossible at such a young age and scratching will be carried out unconsciously.

Other complementary reasons why eczema on babies proves so common, is that their skin may become irritated from substances we consider to be quite naturally used in our lives. Babies may develop a condition from sheets or clothing washed with fabric softeners, they may react negatively to such materials as wool, or to heat and sweat. Whatever is in excess and comes in contact with their skin may cause an allergic rash or reaction.

In case one of the parents has suffered from this condition, chances are higher that eczema on babies will become manifest too. And, since parents have already had some experience with that, they should know what to do to improve their infants’ situation. It is important that mothers watch carefully for signs as to what might lead to this condition and try to remove the factors to blame for this problem.

It is pretty unpleasant to wake up one morning and find that your baby suffers from this condition and see the poor little one unable to deal with it. As a parent the first thing you should do is contact your doctor and let him begin the so-called investigations to figure out how to make it better for the child. Moreover, it would be great even for the parents to do a bit of research on eczema on babies themselves.

Popularity: 18% [?]