Everyone gets sore or flaky skin at times, especially during this time of year when the weather is colder, and our skin tends to dry out. However, if you’ve noticed a big problem in this area that’s causing you continued grief, it’s worth paying close attention. You may have eczema and need to get it looked at by a qualified physician.
Eczema is the name for a group of conditions that causes inflamed, itchy, or rash-like skin in various parts of the body. There are multiple types, and it’s widespread, with millions of Americans suffering from it every year. This skin condition can start in childhood, when you’re a teen, or as an adult, and it can range in severity. This is a health problem worth knowing more about.
Eczema Explained
Eczema isn’t contagious, so you can’t pick it up from human contact. People with eczema get sore, itchy, bumpy, red skin because the health issue damages the skin barrier function. This function works basically as the “glue” of your skin. When you lose it, your skin becomes more sensitive and therefore more prone to get dry and sore.
Note that eczema doesn’t harm your body as such, even though it’s uncomfortable and doesn’t look pretty. The skin isn’t dirty or infected as such, but rather inflamed. Types of eczema include contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis (the most prevalent), seborrheic dermatitis, dyshidrotic eczema, stasis dermatitis, and nummular eczema. Eczema can show up on any part of the skin on your body but is especially common on the hands, feet, neck, knees, ankles, inner elbows, and around the eyes.
Signs and Symptoms of Eczema
The signs and symptoms of eczema are a bit different for each sufferer, so how it looks and feels for you can be very different from how it is for someone else you know. Plus, you can get different types of eczema in different spots over time, which may all come across in various ways. You can have one sign of eczema or multiple ones, too.
For most people, though, eczema is an itchy condition that can be mild, moderate, or severe, with extremely inflamed skin that’s hard to stop scratching and can bleed from doing so. Apart from the itch, look out for rough, scaly, leathery-looking and feeling patches of skin and inflamed, discolored, dry, and sensitive skin. You might notice some oozing or crusting, too, and potentially even have some areas of swelling.
Risk Factors
Anyone can get eczema and at any age. However, the most common type, atopic dermatitis, usually starts in childhood. People who seem to be most at risk of suffering from this condition include women, African Americans, those with asthma or hay fever already, and patients who come from a family with a history of asthma, hay fever, or dermatitis.
Cause of Eczema
The cause of eczema is currently unknown, although it’s thought those who get it do so due to environmental triggers combined with genetic tendencies. However, keep in mind that having high stress levels is believed to cause or worsen eczema. Also, many things in the environment may irritate your skin, such as air pollutants, harsh soaps, tobacco smoke, wool and some other fabrics, and some beauty products.
Plus, low humidity, heat, and high humidity can make eczema itch worse. The dry air dries the skin out, while the high humidity and heat lead to sweating, creating more itchiness.
Diagnosing and Treating Eczema
If you think you might have eczema, book an appointment to speak with an online doctor or an in-person physician. They will ask for your health history and examine the inflamed areas of your skin to provide a diagnosis. Most medical practitioners will diagnose eczema from these two steps, but if there is any doubt, they may perform some tests to be sure.
They could order blood tests to check that your skin problems aren’t caused by something besides dermatitis, or they may conduct an allergy skin test. In some cases, a skin biopsy is performed to distinguish one type of dermatitis from another.
There are no cures for eczema, but there are treatment options to handle the health issue. Start by trying to determine what leads to eczema flare-ups for you. You might want to see a counselor or other therapist about how to deal with stress and anxiety, or you can take over-the-counter antihistamines to calm itching.
Use a humidifier to make your skin less dry and keep it moisturized with creams or ointments designed for sensitive skin. Avoid hot baths or showers and use mild soaps and other products that don’t contain fragrance, perfumes, dyes, alcohol, etc.
Cortisone creams may help with itching and redness, too, or your doctor may even prescribe you certain steroid creams, tablets, or shots that can help treat eczema. Some people find that phototherapy, spending time under ultraviolet light from special lamps or sunlight, can help their skin disorder, too.
Eczema doesn’t have to rule your life or cause you too much distress if you can identify it early, understand it, and learn which treatment options work best for your body.
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