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Eczema

What is Eczema?

Summary & Participants

Millions of people suffer from the skin condition eczema marked by red, itchy patches that sometime become infected. Listen to experts talk about the causes, triggers and treatments of eczema.

Medically Reviewed On: June 10, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Some problems, while not life-threatening, can be both unpleasant and uncomfortable. That's the case with atopic eczema, an inflammatory skin condition.

DORIS DAY, MD: We know eczema to be a hypersensitivity reaction. Your body is more reactive, more turned on, more in tune to anything, and so anything that touches your skin, affects it from inside or from outside, will make you itch. That itch will make you scratch. The scratch will bring out the eczema, and then you have a problem.

There are different sizes of patches that can be red. There can be some scale. They're typically very itchy and uncomfortable.

A. PAUL KELLY, MD: Others have little bumps that stick up and some have bumps with fluid in it. And those who do a lot of scratching, the skin markings are thicker and you can see the skin much easier than people who've had it on an acute basis. It's characteristically in the folds of the skin. That is, behind the knees and in front of the elbows. The neck is a common area also for eczema.

ANNOUNCER: Identifying eczema may be tricky .

DORIS DAY, MD: Other conditions that we can confuse with eczema are things like allergic contact dermatitis or an irritant dermatitis that's due to a specific product. Psoriasis sometimes can look like eczema, and that can be a little bit confusing, but usually the distribution will make it more clear; family history will help make it more clear; and sometimes a biopsy will be helpful.

ANNOUNCER: More than 15 million people in the United States suffer from this condition, which knows no age barrier. In fact 10% of all infants can have eczema and over half of those who get it as kids will have it all their lives.

A. PAUL KELLY, MD: Sixty percent of the patients with eczema have it before the age of one. And 90% manifest it by the age of five.

DORIS DAY, MD: Usually you wont see eczema for the first time in someone who is 40 or 50 years old and has never had it before. But eczema can be seen in any age group.

ANNOUNCER: What actually causes eczema is unknown, but experts have an idea what factors may contribute.

DORIS DAY, MD: There are many causes of eczema. People who have an underlying hypersensitivity, people who tend to be overly sensitive to different environmental stimuli. And it's a product of both your genes and the environment.

ANNOUNCER: What is known is that certain triggers do seem to cause flare-ups.

DORIS DAY, MD: And this includes lower humidity, lower temperature, certain clothing, like wool or clothing that irritates or causes itching of the skin. Stress can make anything worse, whether it's eczema, psoriasis, acne, anything. We're not sure about foods; whether or not foods cause eczema to become more pronounced or more of a problem.

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