Eczema

Want tots without allergies? Try sucking on their pacifiers

(HealthDay)—A new Swedish study suggests that parents who want to protect their infants from developing allergies should try a simple approach to introducing their children to the wide world of microbes: ...

Immunology created May 06, 2013 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (13) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Food, skin allergies increasing in children, study finds

Parents are reporting more skin and food allergies in their children, a big U.S. government survey found. Experts aren't sure what's behind the increase. Could it be that children are growing up in households so clean that ...

Immunology created May 02, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Review finds no benefit of evening primrose oil for treating eczema

Research into the complementary therapies evening primrose oil and borage oil shows little, if any, benefit for people with eczema compared with placebo, according to a new systematic review. The authors, who published their ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Apr 29, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Living in US raises risk of allergies, study shows

Children born outside the United States have a lower risk of asthma, skin and food allergies, and living in the United States for a decade may raise a person's allergy risk, said a study on Monday.

Immunology created Apr 29, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Medicaid-insured children have limited access to dermatologists, researchers find

A recent Saint Louis University study revealed that Medicaid-insured children with eczema, an inflammatory skin condition that affects 20 percent children in the United States, do not have easy access to dermatologists.

Health created Apr 29, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The biology of fats in the body

When you have your cholesterol checked, the doctor typically gives you levels of three fats found in the blood: LDL, HDL and triglycerides. But did you know your body contains thousands of other types of fats, or lipids?

Medical research created Apr 29, 2013 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

New immune cells hint at eczema cause

(Medical Xpress)—University of Sydney researchers have discovered a new type of immune cell in skin that plays a role in fighting off parasitic invaders such as ticks, mites, and worms, and could be linked to eczema and ...

Immunology created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Skin deep: Fruit flies reveal clues to wound healing in humans

A person's skin and a fruit fly's exoskeleton, called a "cuticle" may not look alike, but both coverings protect against injury, infection, and dehydration. The top layers of mammalian skin and insect cuticle are mesh-works ...

Genetics created Apr 05, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Prebiotics: Do supplements in baby formula help prevent allergies?

Prebiotic supplements in infant formula may help to prevent eczema, according to a systematic review published in The Cochrane Library. However, the review highlights a lack of high quality evidence for the effects of pre ...

Health created Mar 27, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Four in 10 babies given solid foods too early, study finds

(HealthDay)—Child development experts advise parents not to introduce solid foods, such as baby cereal, into an infant's diet until the infant is at least 4 to 6 months old. However, new research suggests ...

Pediatrics created Mar 25, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Aristolochic acid nephropathy, a global health problem

(HealthDay)—Although the first description of a rapidly progressive nephropathy associated with the consumption of aristolochic acid (AA) found in Chinese herbs was first reported 20 years ago, AA-induced ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Mar 19, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Breast-feeding won't prevent pre-teen obesity, study finds

(HealthDay)—Breast-feeding has many benefits, but preventing overweight and obesity later in a child's life probably isn't among them, according to a new study.

Health created Mar 12, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Large-scale Japanese genomics project finds eight new loci linked to atopic dermatitis

Around one in ten Japanese school children suffer from a debilitating form of eczema known as atopic dermatitis (AD). Despite clear signs that the condition is heritable, the genetic origins of the disease ...

Genetics created Feb 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Itching for new help for eczema: Recently identified immune cells possible therapeutic target

Researchers have identified a previously unknown critical role for a recently identified immune cell population in the progression of atopic dermatitis. The team found an accumulation of innate lymphoid cells ...

Immunology created Jan 30, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Fast food linked to asthma and eczema

(Medical Xpress)—A large international study led from The University of Auckland has shown that an increased risk of severe asthma, eczema and rhinitis in adolescents and children is associated with eating fast food three ...

Health created Jan 23, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast


Eczema (from Greek ἔκζεμα ēkzema, "to boil over") is a form of dermatitis, or inflammation of the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin). In England, an estimated 5.7 million or about one in every nine people have been diagnosed with the disease by a clinician at some point in their lives.

The term eczema is broadly applied to a range of persistent skin conditions. These include dryness and recurring skin rashes that are characterized by one or more of these symptoms: redness, skin edema (swelling), itching and dryness, crusting, flaking, blistering, cracking, oozing, or bleeding. Areas of temporary skin discoloration may appear and are sometimes due to healed injuries. Scratching open a healing lesion may result in scarring and may enlarge the rash.

The word eczema comes from Greek words, that mean "to boil over". Dermatitis comes from the Greek word for skin – and both terms refer to exactly the same skin condition. In some languages, dermatitis and eczema are synonymous, while in other languages dermatitis implies an acute condition and "eczema" a chronic one. The two conditions are often classified together.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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