Helpful (hopefully) observations on the section on eczema-atopic dermatitis

I recently wrote an informal report for a class on Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema), using the info on this website. Since I have had eczema all of my life, I did not find much on the topic on the website that I did not already know, but being so familiar, I compiled my report interspersed with my own observations and comments. In particular, I hope my comments might be helpful to parents who find themselves with children that suffer from eczema.

Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema)

Atopic dermatitis, or eczema is a fairly common skin condition, particularly in infants and children, affecting from 1 to 10 percent of infants. Approximately 27 percent of infants whose mothers have allergies develop atopic dermatitis. For the fortunate, atopic dermatitis usually goes away during childhood or by the age of 25, but for some people it lasts a lifetime. (I was diagnosed with it at six months and it has never gone away completely. Both my parents have allergies. My children have comparatively mild issues with eczema.)

Atopic dermatitis is triggered by allergies and, for some, emotional stress. It involves high levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE), the major allergy antibody, and is commonly associated with allergic rhinitis and asthma. (I have never noted a link between stress and eczema. For me, an absolute instantaneous trigger is for me to sit for more than about 30 seconds on something like leather or vinyl wearing shorts during my hay fever season. I carry a towel in my car with me all summer and sit on in it in the car and anywhere I go. Resting her forearms on desktops and tabletops occasionally bothers my daughter.)

In infants, atopic dermatitis appears as an itchy rash, called pruritus. It appears first as small white pimples with red centers over the infant's cheeks, neck and scalp. As the itchiness becomes annoying, the infant will scratch the rash, which causes the area to become infected, ooze fluid and spread over a wider area. The rash rarely appears in the diaper area. (My children would sometimes get spots on their cheeks that looked like eczema when they were teething, but I don’t know if it was actually eczema.)

In older children, the rash appears on the inner forearm, behind the knees, and opposite the elbows. Chronically irritated skin becomes dry, thickened and brownish in color. Sometimes children the rash appears on the eyelids, the palms of the hand and soles of the feet. Teens and young adults get the rash most often in the bend of the elbow, back of the knees, ankles and wrists, and on the face, neck, chest, and palms of the hands and soles of the feet. (I have scars under both ankles from eczema in childhood. Behind the knee, inside the elbow, sometimes the neck and eyelids were the worst spots when I was a kid. Those were always sweaty areas. I almost never wore shorts in the summer because it was embarrassing. I rarely wore shorts untiI I was about 16. I guess maybe because the symptoms were beginning to subside some by then.)