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Eczema |
EczemaEczema, also known as dermatitis is a group of allergic condition which affects the upper layers of the skin.
It is recognized by recurring or persistent skin rashes with redness, itching, dryness and skin edema. In severe cases blistering, crusting, cracking, flaking, oozing or bleeding is also possible.
Eczema can be characterized by location (hand eczemas), possible cause (varicose eczema), or specific appearance (eczema craquele or discoid).
There are many forms of eczema but the most common and severe form of eczema is atopic dermatitis. The term atopic refers to life long tendency to get the particular allergic reaction. Eczema is a very common form of allergic reaction found in all the races and sex including infants.
In fact it is more common in children as 20 % children are affected compared to 1-2 % adults. It begins at an early stage of life and most of the children experience its first symptoms before 5 years of age.
Eczema is a chronic and recurrent disorder which can be frustrating and difficult to handle sometimes.
For some it might improve with time, but others can experience the symptoms on and off throughout their life span. Eczema or eczematous dermatitis may appear different from person to person and is not contagious.
The exact cause of eczema is not known, however one’s genetic makeup and heredity is blamed often.
Some people with eczema can have other allergies like asthma, dust or animal finer allergy; outbreak can be triggered by ingesting some food like milk, soy, eggs, fish or wheat due to food allergy. Like other allergic reactions people with eczema do produce antibodies (immunoglobulin E) as a part of the reaction. Any contact with external trigger can cause inflamed skin (irrelevant to duration of contact) and flair the symptoms, itching which is a common human tendency can worsen the condition.
Common triggers that can cause eczema include soaps, detergent, creams, weather, jewelry, environmental allergens, food handling, clothing, sweating, rubbing, gloves, bacteria, mental, emotional or physical stress. Although sometimes difficult to avoid, the conditions which cause strong allergic reactions should be tried and eliminated from the environment.
Common signs and symptoms of eczema include itchy patches near the elbow bends, back of the knees, ankles and wrists, on the face, neck, back and upper chest (it is possible that any part of the body can be affected but these are more susceptible areas). The skin may feel hot and itchy first, and then after a person scratches it (which is done in most of the cases) the skin becomes red, inflamed and blistered. Depending on person to person the symptoms might vary, for some the skin texture can be leathery, for others extremely dry and scaly.
Treatment for eczema can be slow and often ineffective in some cases, it is best to avoid the environmental triggers that cause the allergic reactions. |
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