What is a Skin Asthma?
A lot of people are not aware or may have never even heard about skin asthma. Skin asthma, or commonly known as eczema or atopic dermatitis, is condition that causes the skin to be overly sensitive to specific irritants. Research reveals that there is an estimated amount of more than 20 million people have skin asthma or eczema in Northern America alone. Some people encounter this skin condition every now and then. But for some people, it is a constant battle. Identifying the causes and symptoms of skin asthma can help you in dealing with this chronic condition better.
There are a variety of allergens or irritants that can start skin asthma flareups. Molds, pollens, and dust are just some of the few that can trigger skin asthma. Other causes can be specific foods, chemicals, stress, and even weather conditions.
Skin asthma can appear on the skin in various ways. The most common sign of a skin asthma is inflamed red patches. It can also appear as cracked skin or as small white bumps. Whatever form it takes, skin asthma can be very, very itchy. Scratching it can lead to serious infections.
Locations where skin asthma or eczema can appear in a person´s body can be the elbows, knuckles, and knees. Skin asthma appears symmetrically. If you have one in your right knee, then there is a high possibility that you can have one too showing up in the left knee. Skin asthma can also show up in the scalp, mouth, and feet.
Doctors usually recommend that you keep yourself moisturized at least twice to thrice a day. You can use creams moisturizes and protects you from irritants and allergens. When the skin asthma flareup is severe, doctors usually recommend corticosteroid cream that soothes and heal your skin asthma. Severe cases of skin asthma requires oral corticosteroid or corticosteroid injections that is prescribed for a short period just to help reduce overall flareups.
Never, ever scratching the part of your skin with eczema as this will delay the healing and can cause severe infections. Antihistamine may be prescribed to help control the urge of scratching.