Eczema is a chronic skin disease which can be characterized by itchy, red and flaky rashes. When patient ignores this disease and doesn’t pay much attention to it, he may also start suffering from its complications, such as pustules or weeping. It is believed that likeliness of getting eczema is associated with likeliness of suffering from allergic diseases, such as asthma or hay fever because eczema is usually caused by the increased sensitivity of the skin. Various environmental factors, such as chemicals, cold, and even water can irritate the skin additionally and make the condition of the skin even worse.
The prevention of eczema should start together with birth: it has been estimated that naturally fed babies are less likely to have eczema in the future. In addition, nursing mothers should avoid allergenic products, such as natural cow’s milk. For adults, eczema may be triggered by stress, environmental allergens and irritant substances.
Eczema treatment is long and requires hard work by both, the patient and the doctor. Tough treatment decisions are highly dependent on the skin condition, the most important thing is identifying and eliminating disease-provoking factors. Patient should avoid allergenic foods and environmental allergens, such as wool and lanolin.
Dry skin makes the situation even worse, so the patient should avoid the contact with water and use less soap (especially bactericidal soap which is very strong). Just after the shower, the skin should be lubricated with moisturizing and special creams. Recently, doctors have started to use a new class of medicines called – TIMS that have no corticosteroids. According to various researches, more than 80 percent of eczema cases can be cured with these medicines.