Atopic Dermatitis: What Is It and What to Do About It
Basic symptoms that stem from a rash are easy enough to discern. But did you know that many times those rashes have nothing to do with an infection? When we have these itchy skin scales, the majority of time they come from what's referred to as eczema. Eczema is the inflammation of the outermost layer of the skin which is referred to as the epidermis.
Atopic dermatitis is the most common form of eczema that does not come from infections. What happens when one has atopic dermatitis is that scaly patches will cover the scalp, arms, legs, and torso and also cause one's facial cheeks to become chapped. This hereditary condition's signs begin to show around early childhood. As we age the condition spreads to additional parts of the body. This is represented by the symptoms covering the knees and inner elbows during the teenage years and the around the eyelids, hands and genitals throughout the adulthood stage. During the most serious of cases it will spread over every one of these parts of the body. Significant cases are when the scaly patches will become red, swollen, and cracked. The worst possible situation is that the cracked patches will have tissue fluid oozing out of them. This is usually followed by said fluid crusting over itself.
Atopic dermatitis is somewhat of a misnomer since dermatits means inflammation of the skin while atopic refers to diseases that may be associated with allergies. However the majority of the time atopic dermatitis has nothing to do with allergies. Eczema will usually come on its own schedule as opposed to be brought about by the usual allergic suspects of foods, soaps, and detergents.
That being said, it usually does show up during the winter months when the air is cold and dry, and therefore frequent washing can aggravate and worsen the condition. Moisturizing will not help as the skin is not dry but inflamed.
Luckily the degree of the symptoms do not worsen as we age (although they are found on different part of the body) and it is not contagious. In actuality it is usually the worst throughout childhood. For some the condition is worse during the summer months while others do not experience seasonal fluctuation. The last piece in its description is that atopic dermatitis is a dormant condition. This signifies that one can considerably suffer its symptoms to then have them subside for years and years, to then only come strongly back without warning or reason.
The first and foremost step to effective eczema dry skin elimination is to minimize itching the inflamed skin. As good as it may feel to do so, one would only be aggravating it which makes it last longer and potentially spread further. Beyond the first step of not scratching, apply prescription strength steroids that come in the form of a cortisone cream. For children and for sensitive areas of the skin such as the face or groin, mild creams such as hydrocortisone or over the counter steroid strengths of 0.5% or 1%. For adults and for thicker areas of the skin, the more effective creams that are recommended are the more potent steroid (cortisone) creams. The stronger medicinal creams containing the steroid formula are clobetasol, triamcinolone, and fluocinonide. Burrow's solution is a solution not based on steroids. It is rather a pharmacological preparation that consists of aluminum acetate dissolved in water. It has antimicrobial properties and will assist in drying up atopic dermatitis at its worst stage of oozing tissue fluid out of its dried scale cracks.
BIOSKINBALM is the dry skincream that is made with only natural ingredients that do not cause irritation or inflammation. The effective results of this fully natural skin care solution derives mainly from its ingredients of snail serum and rose hip seed oil that will aid insoothing irritation and redness. Biocutis's eczema cream Bioskinbalm is the perfect addition to your dry skin care regimen that in addition to soothingly moisturizing your skin, it will aidthe skin's very renewal process. This allows for a natural recovery back to healthy skin texture that doesn't include any potentially harmful side effects from more harsh treatments. To learn more about this topic and other related themes, please click on: atopic dermatitis skin
Published June 17th, 2011
Filed in Beauty