Atopic Eczema

People who suffer from asthma, hay fever, attacks of conjunctivitis (red, itchy eyes), or atopic eczema are called atopic.

Atopic eczema usually appears between 3 and 12 months of age and may persist into the teens.

The patches of eczema may be dry, red and scaly or weeping and sometimes split. It is terribly itchy and the children are often disfigured by scratch marks making the skin thick and ridged.

The face, especially around the mouth and eyes, and the joints are particularly affected.

Treatment of Atopic Eczema

To cope with atopic eczema, the following care should be taken:

. Treatment cannot cure it, but it will go away on its own, eventually. Treatment of eczema is aimed at making it less troublesome.

. Breast-feeding only for the first six to nine months has been recommended to prevent eczema.

. A strict diet, free from cow's milk and eggs, improves the condition. The diet can lead to vitamin and calcium deficiency, and must be done under the medical supervision of a child specialist. It should be abandoned if there is no clear benefit in a two-month trial.

. The dust in bedding, curtains, carpets and soft furnishings contain large quantity of house dust mite. Allergy to this makes -the eczema worse. Beds and room of the child must be vacuumed daily where children lie or crawl.

Wool, nylon and artificial fabrics make the skin more itchy. Cotton clothes and sheets are very helpful.

. Bubble baths are very drying and should be avoided. Oil may be added to the bath. Soaps are drying to the skin and should be avoid as far as possible. A cool bath with a special cleanser to grease the skin is very helpful.

. Chlorinated swimming pools dry the skin, and a shower after swimming, to wash off the chlorine, is essential. Sea bathing does not make the eczema worse.

. Hot, humid weather often makes eczema worse but sunlight is beneficial. Cold winter weather and a hot, dry atmosphere due to central heating makes the skin drier, cracked and more itchy.