Friday, July 24, 2009

Eczema Cure

By John James

Eczema is a disease in a form of dermatitis, or inflammation of the epidermis. Eczemas originating from ingestion of medications, foods, and chemicals, have not yet been clearly systematized. Eczema can be exacerbated by dryness of the skin.

Anti-itch drugs, often antihistamine, may reduce the itch during a flare up of eczema, and the reduced scratching in turn reduces damage and irritation to the skin (the Itch cycle). Moisturizing is one of the most important self-care treatments for sufferers of eczema.

Some common emollients for the relief of eczema include Oilatum, Balneum, Medi Oil, Diprobase, bath oils and aqueous cream.

Eczema can be isolated to one area or be present in several areas on your body. The term eczema is broadly applied to a range of persistent skin conditions. In contrast to psoriasis, eczema is often likely to be found on the flexor aspect of joints.

One of the recommendations is that people suffering from eczema should not use detergents of any kind on their skin unless absolutely necessary. Eczema sufferers can reduce itching by using cleansers only when water is not sufficient to remove dirt from skin.

However, detergents are so ubiquitous in modern environments in items like tissues, and so persistent on surfaces, "safe" soaps are necessary to remove them from the skin in order to control eczema.

The term eczema refers to a set of clinical characteristics. A type of eczema may be described by location (e. hand eczema), by specific appearance (eczema craquele or discoid), or by possible cause (varicose eczema). Further adding to the confusion, many sources use the term eczema and the term for the most common type of eczema (atopic eczema) interchangeably.

Unfortunately there is no one agreed-upon best kind of skin cleanser for eczema sufferers. While it has been suggested that eczema may sometimes be an allergic reaction to the excrement from house dust mites, with up to 5% of people showing antibodies to the mites, the overall role this plays awaits further corroboration.

Eczema can not be cured, but you can prevent some types of eczema by avoiding irritants, stress and the things you are allergic to. Eczema is easier to control than cure. Eczema affects 15 to 20 percent of all children.

Light therapy (or Deep penetrating light therapy) using ultraviolet light can help control eczema. Dietary elements that have been reported to trigger eczema include dairy products and coffee (both caffeinated and decaffeinated), soybean products, eggs, nuts, wheat and maize (sweet corn), though food allergies may vary from person to person.

Corticosteroids are generally considered safe to use in the short- to medium-term for controlling eczema, with no significant side effects differing from treatment with non-steroidal ointment. While these usually bring about rapid improvements, they should not be taken for any length of time and the eczema often returns to its previous level of severity once the medication is stopped.

According to the British Association of Dermatologists, there is considerable anecdotal evidence that salt water baths may help some children with atopic eczema.

These dampen the immune system and can result in dramatic improvements to the patient's eczema. In the UK, the most commonly used immunosuppressants for eczema are ciclosporin(Cyclosporine), azathioprine and methotrexate.

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