Atopic Dermatitis – When Itching becomes a Problem
Approximately three people out of a hundred suffer from neurodermatitis, medically known as atopic dermatitis. First symptoms often occur early in life as patchy rashes during the first or second year. Later on the symptoms generally withdraw to the bends of the joints. Patients with atopic dermatitis have to ensure thorough basic skin treatment for the whole of their lives.
Atopic dermatitis refers to a wide range of chronic skin diseases that are often associated with allergic disorders that involve the respiratory system, such as asthma and hay fever.
Although atopic dermatitis can appear at any age, it is most common in children and young adults. Ninety percent develop eczema before they are five. Symptoms often abate before puberty and do not affect the patient’s general health. About one baby in ten develops a form of atopic dermatitis called infantile eczema.
It is characterized by skin that weeps and becomes encrusted, and most often appears on the face, scalp or knees. The condition usually improves before the child’s second birthday, and medical care can keep symptoms in check until that time.
When atopic dermatitis develops after infancy, inflammation, blistering, weeping, and crusting over are less pronounced. The patient’s sores become dry, turn from red to greyish-brown, and the skin may thicken and become scaly. Atopic dermatitis affects about three percent of the population, and about eighty percent of those affected have one or more relatives with the same condition or a similar one. Symptoms tend to be more severe in females.
Atopic dermatitis can erupt on any part of the skin, and scabby, thickened patches on the fingers, palms, or the soles of the feet can last for years. In teenagers and young adults, atopic dermatitis often appears in one or more of the following areas: crooks of the elbows, backs of the knees, ankles, wrists, neck and shoulders, palms and between the fingers.
Causes and symptoms
While stress and allergic reactions often trigger the symptoms of atopic dermatitis, the condition itself is thought to be the result of an inherited over-active immune system frequently in combination with a genetic defect that causes the skin to lose abnormally large amounts of moisture. The condition can be aggravated by a cycle that develops in which the skin itches, the patient scratches, the condition worsens, the itching worsens, the patient scratches, etc.
This vicious circle must be broken by soothing the itching in order to allow the skin time to heal. If the skin cracks, there is also a risk of skin infections developing which, if not recognized and treated promptly, can become serious.
Jane Funke and Hannelore Gießen
Diesen Artikel finden Sie in DAS PTA MAGAZIN 04/2010 auf Seite 38 ff. oder als PDF-Download im Kasten oben rechts.
