Eczema Facts - Understanding the Disease Better

Eczema is a skin disease caused due to inflammation of the skin. There are several skin diseases, but this is a type of skin disease much prevalent among infants and exists right until they are three years old. If it exists beyond this age well into adult hood it is known atopic dermatitis and becomes chronic and exists for a long period. It will appear in parts of the face and the neck. Frequently it affects the joints where there is high presence of cartilage and tendons. Therefore it is found on the elbow joints, knee, ankles etc.

Fact 1: Eczema is not a single skin disease like a pimple or acne. It is a skin condition that passes through several stages. It first appears dry and red. It then begins to go scaly and the itchiness that it is so famous for makes its first appearance. This stage will worsen into rashes and the skin becomes red and begins to ooze pus and there are times when blistering also occur.

Fact 2: The atopic dermatitis or the adult eczema makes the skin dry, thick, red, and scaly. The adult skin becomes tight with minimum sagging because of the dryness predominant in this type of disease. Generally wrinkling of the skin is less. The adult skin will be prone to age spots, which will darken with each growing year. Because of the dryness the skin becomes very scaly and this condition worsens when the degree of this skin affliction is very high.

Fact 3: Climatic changes affect people prone to eczema. Other irritants include liquids used for household purposes. Especially detergents, cleaning powders and lotions will have high percentage of dolomite and products with hydroquinone will trigger eczema.

Fact 4: Skin type is a factor that will determine the incidence of eczema. It is a scientifically proven fact that most of the Hispanics, the Asians and the Black with eczema-affected skin will react to cosmetics with more rashes and spotting of the skin. The European or the Caucasian skin is more prone to wrinkles and the skin cancer.

These are a few of the important facts of eczema one should be aware of. People inclined towards this kind of skin diseases need to exercise a lot of caution while using cosmetics. Care should be taken that the skin remains hydrated else the itchiness would lead to another bout of eczema.