Ecz-Pressions We’re Tired of Hearing

Listen to three patient advocates (including the president of the Eczema Association of Australasia) discuss several "ecz-pressions"—common statements and questions—they hear way too often as people living with eczema. These three individuals open up about their condition and life experiences in a candid conversation.

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Corticosteroid Creams and Eczema

Eczema is a chronic condition. That means it is not curable and has to be controlled. It is a condition where the skin is constantly inflamed. For over 50 years, topical steroids have been known to be highly effective in controlling this inflammation. There is no other medication that works as well or as efficiently. One of the main functions of skin is to maintain a barrier to the outside world. In eczema the barrier is damaged. Steroids rapidly repair the damaged skin barrier without irritating the skin.

Adults Who Have Eczema

One in eight children have eczema at one time or another as do one in twelve adults. Some of the latter are adults whose eczema has lingered on, while others will have eczema for the first time in adulthood. Some people will have had eczema for the first time as babies or young children and then experience several years of remission only to have the eczema re-appear suddenly and sometimes severely in their adult years. Since one of the homilies that seems to have attached itself to the condition is “you will grow out of it”, it is small wonder that adults with eczema become quite desperate.

Babies Who Have Eczema

There are different skin disorders, some of which can start very early on in life, such as cradle cap. This thick scurfy scalp can appear soon after birth or when the baby is a few months old. It can develop suddenly. The scalp becomes coated with greasy yellow scales that stick to the head giving a crusty appearance. This scaliness can affect other parts of the baby’s face and head including the forehead, temples, eyebrows, behind the ears and in the neck folds. The skin underneath the scales may look sore, but it is not a condition that causes discomfort or itching.

Ear Eczema

Ear eczema can be an extremely irritating and, at times, painful condition. It can range from slight dryness of the pinna (the visible, projecting part of the ear) to extensive skin loss and soreness, as well as infection of the external and internal parts of the ear.

Eczema can affect the entire ear including the ear lobes, conchal bowl (the area outside the ear-hole), the ear opening (meatus), ear canal (also known as the external auditory canal – the part of the ear which leads to the ear drum) and the ear drum itself (also known as the tympanic membrane).

Red Skin Syndrome is NOT eczema

I joined the Eczema Association of Australasia after becoming desperate for an end to my itchy, red skin. I was first diagnosed with eczema around the age of 20 and prescribed a mild steroid cream for the rash on my chest. The rash cleared and the unfinished tube of cream sat idle in my bathroom cupboard for years. In my late twenties and thirties, I occasionally developed a small patch of dry skin, which I sometimes treated with a topical steroid cream or with a non‐steroidal emollient. It wasn’t until my early forties that my skin rash become problematic.