Eczemas (Part One)

Eczemas (dermatitis or skin irritation) affect about one in every five individuals at least once during their lifetime. The causes are numerous, ranging from contact with any kind of chemical product on the skin (construction materials, various chemical cleaners), cosmetic products (shampoo, creams, makeup, etc.), contact with any kind of material (clothing, metals, wood), contact with plants or animals, etc.

The term widely used is eczema or simply skin irritation (redness of it). Eczema can be acute or chronic or both.

• During acute Eczema, the skin reddens, swells, itches (scratching), and vesicles filled with serous fluid may also form.
• In chronic Eczema, the skin is dark red, generally bordered with healthy skin, thick and often with small white scales (tiny flaked-off pieces of skin)

Once eczema has appeared, a factor that can provoke or worsen skin irritation is psychological stress, apparently from the mechanisms of normal immune suppression.

Some types of eczemas more encountered in clinical practice.

Atopic Eczema

Atopic eczema (or atopy) is a chronic skin irritation that is very common in children, but can occur at any age. It is also known as eczema, atopic dermatitis, and neurodermatitis. This is the most common form of dermatitis.

Atopic eczema usually occurs in people who have an atopic tendency, a genetic predisposition to be allergic, and may manifest together with allergic respiratory phenomena, asthma, and allergic rhinitis. Often these pathologies are familial, the child may have one of the parents, brother, or sister allergic from the pathologies mentioned above. A family history of asthma, eczema, or allergic rhinitis is particularly useful in diagnosing atopic eczema in infants.

Atopic eczema is not contagious! It arises due to the complex interaction of genetic factors and external environmental factors. These include defects in normal skin protective function making it more sensitive to specific external contact such as detergents, shampoo, clothing (wool or synthetic), and other irritants in contact with the skin, or nonspecific changes like weather changes, temperature. The skin in atopic eczema is red and swollen, with red scales without clear boundaries with healthy skin.

The treatment of atopic eczema should start with simple measures such as: wearing cotton clothes, using mild non-aromatic soaps, and applying skin-soothing ointments, creams, and ointments specially produced for this problem when these do not give effect should be directed to your dermatologist to use for a short time ointments containing cortisone always under the care of the dermatologist.

I have often heard young mothers advised by their mothers and mothers-in-law to not cover the atopy on the skin but to let it ooze because it appears inside the organism, this opinion is very wrong, atopic eczema should be treated and managed chronically because leaving it untreated leads to bacterial superinfections which aggravate and further complicate its treatment.