What is Eczema?

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Today, we are looking at a condition that affects millions of us. In fact, about 1 in every 9 people is suffering from Eczema!

---- Eczema Awareness Week 13-21 Sept 2014 ----

For this post, I am lucky to announce this is a double post with the amazing participation of Sugarpuffish who you can find at this address http://sugarpuffish.blogspot.com/. It is a fabulous and interesting blog about beauty products for people affected by Eczema and/or allergies.

When I stumbled upon her blog, I immediately asked her about guest posting on Science is So Sexy. She replied promptly, not like the weeks it took me to write it up... ;) Thank you Sugarpuffish!!

Sugarpuffish input is written in italics

So, What is Eczema?

Eczema is an inflammation of the outer layer of the skin, and is also called dermatitis, although, depending on the translation in different countries, some doctors would say eczema refers to a chronic condition (as in you always have it) whereas dermatitis refers to an acute condition (as in you get it once, or occasionnaly).

Eczema is an inflammation of the outer layer of the skin 

Click to Tweet 

It is a term broadly applied to a range of skin conditions including dryness, rashes with redness, swelling, itching, crusting, cracking, bleeding among others.

Types of Eczema and associated symptoms

There are different ways to classify all the different types of eczema depending on the cause, the location or the appearance. 

There are different types of Eczema, as a child I suffered from the most common form Atopic Eczema now as an adult I probably also fall into the category of Contact Eczema.  It is often said that you will grow out of Atopic eczema but I don’t feel I ever have.  However you class my eczema I have suffered from it since infancy.

Atopic Eczema is one of the most common type, and is an allergic disease with possible genetic factor that might occur more often in families who suffer from asthma

Eczema can flare up and calm down.  It can be in small patches common in body joints (backs of knees or inside elbows) or over the whole body.  Even when not suffering eczema flare up your skin is dry, itchy and sensitive.  I am fortunate that my eczema is not always visible.  Eczema is not pleasant to look at and I have read on forums that sufferers do encounter negativity from people who do not recognise their skin condition.

When asked what eczema feels like the main characteristic which drives you insane is the itch.  As a child I scratched my skin even when asleep.  9 times out of 10 you scratch so hard you break the skin and draw blood which often leads to infections.  My skin always feels too tight for my body so when you flex an arm you feel like your skin is tearing.  Eczema appears red, flaky and extremely dry.

Other types of eczemas include Discoid Eczema that comes and goes, Venous usually affecting people with blood circulation problems, Xerotic where your skin is so dry it turns into eczema or Contact dermatitis which can be either allergic or irritant from direct contact with something.

In the case of Atopic Eczema, technically, if you avoid the products that make you allergic or irritant, you should be able to cure your eczema. Now of course, with some many allergens in our beauty products, it's very hard to do so, and it's for that precise reason that Sugarpuffish started her blog.

Treatments

All treatment available aim to control the symptoms by reducing inflammation and relieving itching. These can be Steroid creams, unfortunately side effects including the skin becoming thin and fragile but also by their immunosuppressing action, can lead to fungal or bacterial skin infection. These can not be used continually and need to be alternated with other treatments such as moisturizers (emollients). Sugarpuffish give us other possible treatments:

Traditional treatments for eczema are emollients and steroid creams, immunosuppressant, wet wraps and ultraviolet light treatment.  As a child I was smoothed in thick heavy creams morning and evening.  I could not use conventional soaps and shampoos so had prescribed alternatives.  I wore cotton gloves to bed to try and stop me scratching in my sleep.  When I got infections I would be bandaged up like an Egyptian Mummy.

Cause(s) of Eczema

At 10 years old my eczema was dramatically affecting my daily life.  I was in a great deal of pain, because my skin was broken and infected, I developed asthmatic symptoms and was no longer participating in sports at school.  My GP referred me for a Skin Prick Test  which I passed my test with flying colours I was officially allergic to pretty much the entire world – Cats, Dogs, Feathers, Dust Mites, Pollen, Fungus, Milk, Eggs, Citrus Fruits, Yeast, Perfumes and many more.  We left the hospital with a long list and dietary information.  By cutting out what I was allergic to I was virtually free from eczema. 

The cause of Eczema is unfortunately unknown but some research suggest that the answer could be in your genetic profile and/or your environment. Indeed, studies on populations have found that Asthma sufferers, as well as Eczema and other allergic diseases, grew up in a very clean environment such that, combined with a failing immune system, had an increased risk of developing their condition compared to other non sufferers.

Beauty products

About five years ago my eczema broke out severally and I couldn’t understand what had triggered it.  I did research via the internet and started to find articles about chemicals used in beauty products that were possible skin irritants.  It started to make sense all my life I had to avoid certain brands of washing powder, fabric conditioner, soap and shampoo.  I overhauled my beauty cabinet and changed to products made without ingredients that are believed to be skin irritants e.g. SLS, parabens, artificial fragrance, petrochemicals, PEG’s, silicones, DEA, lanolin.  Almost immediately I noticed a change in my eczema and dry skin.  I will never go back to regular beauty products and I urge people with sensitive skin to try natural products and see the difference for themselves.

* SLS = Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, is known in all research labs as SDS.A complete review on SLS and its variants has now been written on Science is So Sexy and is available HERE

* Parabens are used as preservatives for their antibacterial and antifungal actions, so we can keep our creams without them becoming infected. So far, no other component has been as efficient to replace it. Much contraversy has been raised  after extremely low concentrations have been found in breast cancer tumours however more research need to be conducted to confidently link paraben to cancer. Paraben is found naturally in some plants such as blueberries and most parabens used in products have the exact same formula. A complete review has now been written on Science is So Sexy and is now available HERE

While searching for this post, I came across this article with more information about allergies and dermatitis, it also lists terms you might wanna look for when choosing a product, but also about misleading terms listed on products. Of course, checking out Sugarpuffish blog will definitely be an immense and regular source of information for beauty products targeted at people who have a sensitive skin prone to allergies.

I hope you found this post interesting, no doubt we all learnt something, me by preparing it, you by reading it!! Thank you again Sugarpuffish for opening up to us :)

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,