Integumentary System Disease: Eczema

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There are many treatments to help eczema but the most important one is to take care of your skin. Taking good care of your skin will involve taking warm (not hot) showers or bath on a regular basis and immediately applying lotion or moisturizers afterward to help the skin retain moisture and avoid drying out. There are many over the counter medications and some therapies that help treat eczema which include (MNT, 2015):

- Creams that control itching and inflammation: A doctor may prescribe a corticosteroid cream

- Creams that help repair the skin: some medications or creams used for other reasons can have side-affects the irritate your skin so the doctor may prescribe a cream that you rub over your skin to help increase the amount of moisture retained by the skin

- Drugs to help fight infections: Antibiotics may be recommended if a patient has a bacterial skin infection or open, cracked sore caused by scratching.

- Wet dressings: this is for more serious cases of eczema but this treatment involves wrapping the affected areas with topical corticosteroids and wet bandages. This has been proven to help reduce the symptoms and sign of eczema.

- Stress reduction therapies: increased stress can cause the skin to become irritated so some doctors may suggest seeing a counselor or suggesting some stress relieving exercises

When it comes to treating infants with eczema the treatment process needs to be more delicate due to their sensitive skin and immune systems. Some techniques that work are:

- Avoiding extreme temperatures

- Keeping the baby’s skin moisturized with bath oils, lotions, creams and ointments

- Keeping an eye on and skin irritations that may occur

- Eczema is a condition that can either improve after puberty or after taking good care of the skin and taking any measures to help prevent any irritating side effects. In some individuals that is not always the case, some cases it become chronic which results in occasional flare ups caused by temperature changes. Since there is no direct cure to eczema there are no real prevention measures that guarantee an individual not getting eczema. There are some things to look into for any prevention measures such as: Looking into any family history or any eczema conditions

- In infants dress them in cotton clothes rather than any synthetic materials to prevent skin irritation

- Keep stress levels down as much as possible

- Eat a proper diet

- After swimming in adults and kids, properly moisturize after to keep the skin from drying out

Often times it is seen where an individual has eczema as a child then it disappears then has a flare up later on in adulthood. Eczema doesn’t entirely go away or have any treatment that helps clear the condition but as long as the individual takes proper care of their skin and follows any suggestions from a doctor and uses and medication eczema is a condition that can be controlled.

Since there is no direct cure to eczema there are no real prevention measures that guarantee an individual not getting eczema. There are some things to look into though such as:

- Go easy on the soap: to avoid drying out the skin use soap on the parts of the body that really need it

- Seal water in with moisturizer: the best time is right when you get out of the shower. Gently towel dry off and add a generous amount of moisturizer.

- Go fragrance-free: the extra additives to lotions can cause irritation to the skin

- Wash the itch out of your clothes: use mild detergents, rinse your clothes twice when washing to clean away any trace of detergent. Try to avoid fabric softeners, the fragrance can irritate skin.

- Bathe regularly with low temperature: keeping your body clean of any bacteria helps reduce the risk of bacteria getting into your skin also turning down the temperature of the water helps reduce the drying out of skin.

- Heal with hydrocortisone cream: if you skin does becomes inflamed and itchy, try an over the counter hydrocortisone cream to help reduce inflammation and relieve the itch

Eczema is a skin condition that becomes irritating to some and painful at times. Though there isn’t a true cure for the condition there are many preventative measures one could take to reduce the chance of getting the condition. To some the condition is passed down from family members but there are many ways to keep the condition under control.