Atopic Eczema
Eczema is not a single skin disease, it’s actually a wide group of skin problems all of which have similar characteristics. The common characteristics of eczema are irritation, and inflammation. The most common form of eczema is atopic eczema, this affects around one in six children in America. Most of these children will grow out of their eczema before they reach their teen years, there are of course some cases where eczema persists into adulthood.
All of the different forms of eczema have different causes and symptoms to one another, the differences are however quite slight.
Atopic eczema sufferers may experience a dry, flakey red rash on the skin, skin becoming very itchy, and small fluid filled blisters that are mainly located on your hands and feet. The back of the knees and elbows are the most affected areas for atopic eczema sufferers. Atopic eczema is not contagious, and the cause is unknown. It is thought that some people are more prone to developing eczema than others.
There is no cure for atopic eczema, it can successfully be managed using certain treatments. The best treatment for atopic eczema is to use creams to relieve the symptoms of atopic eczema.
It is possible to treat atopic eczema at home, it’s possible to find many of these treatments in your pharmacies. You can buy emollient cream, these help your skin to retain as much moisture as possible, this relieves many of the symptoms of dry skin.
If you suffer from eczema then your skin will no doubt be dry and lacking the natural moisture that normal skin needs to maintain a healthy look and feel. In order to increase the amount of moisture that is locked into your skin it is important to apply creams and lotions directly onto the skin.
You may think that a bath is good for your skin, however actually a bath can make your skin dry out even more. Hot baths or hot showers can easily cause your skin to loose moisture. What I like to do is add a tiny amount of baby oil into my bath, I find this makes my skin feel much smoother and also removes many of the dry patches of skin.
After getting out of the bath it is important to pat your skin dry rather than rubbing it like you normally do. This may take longer, but it should be much more comfortable for your skin! Once you’re skin is dry you should apply some moisturizer to make sure that the moisture is locked into the skin.
Soap is an eczema sufferers biggest enemies, soap really dries your skin out. If I wash my face with soap, within a few minutes my skin will tighten right up and it feels too small for my head! There are lots of alternatives that you can get for soap. You can use one of the thick petroleum jelly emollient creams as a soap substitute in the bath, it works wonders! Really!
Another great home remedy for eczema is putting oatmeal in your bath, if you don’t like the sound of this then there is a solution. Put some oatmeal in a pair of old tights and then tie them to the tap so that they are hanging in the water. You will find that the water will ‘infuse’ with the oatmeal and turn your water white, this is very soothing to your skin and can easily reduce any itching.
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