eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, is a long-lasting disease that afflicts the skin. This condition is not contagious; an affected person won't pass it to another. The term dermatitis means inflammation of the skin. The term atopic involves a group of diseases where there is usually an inherited tendency to acquire other allergic problems, such as hay fever and asthma. In eczema, the skin turns extremely itchy. Scratching produces weeping clear fluid, redness, swelling, cracking, and finally, scaling and crusting. As some children suffering eczema grow older, their skin disease improves or disappears altogether, although their skin usually remains easily irritated and dry. In others, eczema will still be an important problem in adulthood.
There are no recognized causes for eczema, but the disease seems to appear from a combination of environmental and genetic factors.
Children are more prone to acquire this disorder if allergic conditions like asthma or hay fever affect, or have affected, one or both parents. While some individuals outgrow dermal symptoms, approximately three-fourths of children suffering eczema go on to acquire asthma or hay fever. Environmental factors can bring on eczema's symptoms at any time in individuals who have inherited the atopic disease trait.
Eczema is also associated with malfunction of the organism's defensive system: the system that identifies and helps fight bacteria and viruses that attack the body. Scientists have found that patients suffering eczema have a deficient level of a cytokine protein that is vital to the healthy function of the body's defensive mechanism and an elevated level of other cytokines that lead to allergic responses. The defensive mechanism can become misguided and create dermatitis even when there's no major infection.
In the past, specialists believed that eczema was caused by an emotional disorder. We now know that emotional issues, such as stress, can worsen the condition, but they are not the cause the disease.
Also, a wide variety of skin care products contain preservatives. Patients who are allergic to one of such preservatives may have either localized or widespread dermatitis. Antigen-avoidance lists that facilitate patient education about what products to avoid are available from the manufacturers of patch test allergens. With these printed guidelines alone, people must read skin care solution labels carefully, searching for the names of their allergens as recognized by patch tests as well as for any synonyms and cross-reactors of these allergens. After the identification of an allergen, a nurse can play a key role in helping people understand their dermatitis and its treatment. Nurses are in a perfect position to spend time educating people about how to discover the origin of certain allergens and, subsequently, how to avoid them.
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