Eczema.com

Archive for December, 2009

In a discussion of acne, the answer to “who gets it”?” is pretty obvious. Although it can occur at just about any age, acne is mostly a teen skin problem. What about eczema? Who gets it?

The short answer is, a lot of people. According to the National Institute of Health and other investigations, approximately 10% of the U.S. population has, have, or will have eczema of one form or another. No one, regardless of age, health, gender, or lifestyle, is immune to eczema.

Infants

The age group most subject to eczema is the youngest among us. Infants have the highest rate of eczema occurrences, usually affecting 20% of all infants. In most cases, the eczema is mild to medium in its severity, and will vanish in the first few years of the child’s life.

Elderly

The elderly population, those over age 65, is also commonly subjected to eczema. For this group, dry and cracked skin is the common complaint (the condition is called eczema craquelé) and usually occurs in the extremities. It is caused by a decrease of moisture in the outer layers of the skin, and as would be expected, usually sets in during the dry winter months.

Genetically Predisposed

Like many diseases, no one knows exactly what causes eczema. There are, of course, culprits that are viewed as highly suspicious, but the exact cause or trigger has yet to be determined. One indisputable fact is that those who most commonly get eczema have a family history of eczema.

In this way, eczema is similar to hay fever and asthma, and interestingly enough, is located on the same gene that carries these illnesses. The hereditary form of eczema is one of the most common forms of eczema. It is called atopic dermatitis.

Despite these two groups, which are most likely to have eczema, the skin disorder can crop up in one form or another upon anyone at anytime in life.

As common as it is, there is a surprising misunderstanding of what eczema really is. Prior to my in-depth research of the subject and personal experience with eczema, if you would have asked me, “so, what’s eczema,” I probably would have responded with a blank stare and an awkward moment of silence. So, in a nutshell, what is eczema? And if you don’t understand words like atopic, vesiculation, dermatitis, pruritic, exogenous, and papulovesicular (yet), that’s ok. This is intended to be basic.

It’s a skin problem.

Like I said, this is basic. First, you should understand that eczema is a skin problem. Although it can have severe side effects, eczema does not affect the internal organs, nor is it caused by internal conditions. Skin only.

It’s a generic term.

It’s important to note that the word “eczema” doesn’t apply to just one specific skin problem. Like “cancer,” it can be applied to many different varieties of skin conditions. That being said, there are several symptoms that most forms of eczema have in common. That’s why we can lump most forms of eczema under one general word.

It only affects certain areas of the body.

Eczema usually does not affect one’s skin from head-to-toe. It tends to be concentrated on certain areas of the body. It can occur anywhere, but usually not all at once, or on the same individual. Eczema most commonly affects the face, hands, arms, feet, and legs.

It causes redness and inflammation.

Most forms of eczema are accompanied by inflammation and redness of the skin. Obviously, these symptoms are not unique to eczema. Those who have acne, psoriasis, and rosacea often complain of the same symptoms. However, eczema suffers usually have this condition in common.

It causes drying.

Often, eczema affects the pores and oil-producing glands underlying the outer layer of the skin. This leads to drying, cracking and itching of the skin.

It causes other uncomfortable symptoms.

The symptoms of eczema are many, but it can also cause crustiness of the skin, flaking, oozing, blisters, other types of skin lesions, and even bleeding in its later stages. In some rare cases, those who suffer from severe forms of eczema eventually develop scars.

So, there you have it: a nutshell definition of eczema:  It is a general term for a localized skin problem characterized by redness, inflammation, dryness, and other uncomfortable symptoms.

What it is not.

Eczema is one of those words that no one really learns how to spell in school. It is variously slaughtered as exzema, ecsema, exsema, and ekzeema. The real spelling, of course, is e-c-z-e-m-a. Chances are, you have an inkling of an idea of what eczema is. Just in case you don’t, eczema is not a plant, animal, fungi, or planet. I’ll explain more about what it is in another post.

How to pronounce it.

If you’re going to do more than just read about it, it helps to know how to pronounce it, so here’s to saying the word right. There should be little confusion about how to make the right sounds. What isn’t so easy is where to place the emphasis in the word. Grammarians, doctors, and phonics teachers alike all agree that the emphasis should be placed on the first syllable:  EC’-zema. If you slip up, and call it ecZEE’ma, that’s ok because it’s considered one of the accepted pronunciations. However, in order to look most intelligent, stress the first syllable when you say the word.

What it means.

The origin of the word gives a pretty good idea of what it means. The word eczema is actually derived from a Greek word: ekzein, or ekzema. The Greek word was formed from two components. Ek means “out” and “zema” means to boil. Thus, at its grammatical roots, the word means “to boil out.”

That gives the picture of what eczema looks like—a breaking out or boiling out of the skin. The word picture, ascribed by ancient neologists, was probably just their description of what the condition looked like, and perhaps their understanding that the blood was boiling, as it were, out of the skin.