es. Sealing and retaining the water is done by using emollients ( moisturizers). I will be discussing this in further details in my subsquent articles.
- Symptoms– Some (but not all) of the common symptoms of eczema are as mentioned below–
- Broken/dry/cracked skin
- Many areas of the skin will be itchy and sometimes raw if scratched a lot
- Some areas may become red, inflamed, develop blisters and ooze liquid
- Scratching may result in thickened skin which usually returns to normal once scratching stops
- Although these patches of dry skin may occur anywhere, in Atopic Dermatitis they are usually located on the neck, behind the knees, elbow joints, ankles, wrists, face, hands, feet, arms and upper chest.
- Controlling eczema– People often ask me how I manage Aiyana’s eczema. She has had eczema since she was 1 year old, so we have been dealing with it for about 6 years now. There are some things that have worked for her and some that have not. The first line of treatment consists of emollients (moisturizers) which are used all the time and topical (applied directly onto the skin) cortisteroids or steroid creams as they are ususally known which are used on areas of the skin as required. When these measures fail to work the second line of treatment is prescribed which consists of antihistamines to control the itching; ultraviolet light therapy for children with severe eczema; immunosuppressants like closporine, azathioprine when other medications have failed; immunomodulators like Protopic and Elidel which are medicated creams to control inflamation and reduce immune system reactions and oral cortisteroids like prednisolone in extreme cases. We have had to apply both the first and second line of treatment for my daughter both of which I will discuss separately.
- Others– Since we have been dealing with Aiyana’s eczema for some time now, I have been able to incorporate a few other steps that have helped other children by interacting with their parents both online and personally.
- We have made some lifestyle changes like using mattress covers for all the beds in our house to prevent flare ups due to dust mites; changing from traditional detergent based laundry and dish washing cleaners to natural ones like reetha (soap nuts) and shikakai etc.
- Also we are very strict with her clothing which is always 100% cotton since sweating makes her itch
- We are always very careful about her food intake since some foods like nuts tend to aggravate her skin condition and bring about rashes
- We have changed the heavy drapes in our house for light cotton curtains and have given gave away all her soft toys since both of these tend to collect a lot of dust This house dust is a major trigger for eczema in a lot of people.
These are some of the measures I have taken over the years to help my daughter live as normal a life as possible inspite of having eczema. I will be discussing these in greater details separately so that you do not have to carry out the kind of extensive search that I did to find out about these products and their availability in India. I hope that through my experience with my daughter you will be able to help your child as well.