Skin symptom vocabolary explanation of symptoms that are often found in skin diseases.

This is an explanation of symptoms that are often found in skin diseases.

Rash - A rash is any change in the skin that changes its color or its structure as seen or felt.

Macule - Latin Maculum plural Macula - A macule is a flat spot in the skin.

Iching - Itching is a sensation, usually felt as unpleasant, that provokes a dezire or a relfex to scratch. Itching haqs many similarities with pain, but the reponce it provokes is scratching or similar reactions, when pain will provoce escaping as the responce.

Erythema - Erythema is red color in the skin and is thus a component in many rashes. Erythema is also often a normal reaction for common stimuli like heat or cold. The mechanism behimd erythema is often a reaction through the nerves or a reaction caused ny release of the tissue hormone histamin in the skin. It can be caused by several factors. The most common of them is widening of the capillaries, the smallest blood vessels in the skin.

Flushing - An erythema caused by psychological reactions and mediated through the nerves is usually called flushing.

Pruritus - A Latin name for iching.

Papule - from latin Papula, plural Papulae - This is a round or roundish elevated spot in the skin. Usually the color is also changed. There is no fluid-filled room in the spot. Such spots are often weaker that the normal skin and can easily be injured so that sores or infection is caused. Papules will often develop to pustules. A papule is centered in teh outer layers of the skin.

Papule - This is a roundish thickened or hardened area in the skin. It is usually more that 1 cm in width and it is centred in the deeper layers of the skin.

Pustules - from latin Pustula - plural Pustulae This is a eleveted spot i the skin that contains pus, that is fluid with inflammatory cells and other material caused by inflammation and the immune responce. Much of the cells or material will be dead and undergoing decomposition. If the spot is infected, it will also contain bacteria or vira.

Dermatitis - Dermatitis is an inflammation in the skin. By inflammation there is widened blood vessels, general aggregation of fluid and activity from the immune system. The external symptoms will be redness, sweling, itching, warmness and other symptoms varying with the cause of the inflammation. Many types of dermatitis go under the common name Eczema.

Eczema - This is a aggregate name for many types of dermatitis, namly those types where a rash is the most important symptom.

Topic or topical - A skin disease which has an external cause is called topic.

Atopic or atopical - A skin disease with internal or unknown cause is often called atopic.



About eczema and methods of treating eczema

What is eczema

Eczema is an inflammation of the skin. Almost 9 million cases of eczema are reported every year. The main symptoms of eczema are:

Iching of the affected area is always a symptom of eczema. Without itching, a skin condition is not called eczema.

Redness of affected areas of skin: This is caused by widening of the superficial blood wessels of the skin and with the associated increase in blood flow.

Generally dry skin: The dryness developes over time in skin that has been inflamed for some while

Thickend skin: Thickening is a protective reaction to scratching or other traumas of the skin associated with eczema.

lumps or blisters in affected areas. By eczema there is less adhesion between the skin cells, particularly in the upper layers of the skin. This contributes to scaling and makes it easier for skin bacteria to get into the deeper layers, between the gaps. It also makes it possible for tissue fluids to ooze between the cells and, if sufficient, to gather into collections or blisters.

Crusts: Fluid oozing from inflamed skin is rich in protein. When this dries in contact with air, the protein is left behind as a crusty deposit. Often this occurs by infection, when the infected crusts typically have a golden colour.

Superficial infection: This has signs such as weeping or crusty deposits.

Types of eczema

Eczema is divided in different types according to appearence and cause:

Irritant contact eczema: This form of eczema occurs when an irritating substance comes in direct contact with the skin creating a reaction. The irritant can be a chemical, a cosmetic, different types of materials, or shoes.

Allergic contact eczema: This type of eczema is also caused by skin contact by some substance, but the inflammation is caused through an allergic reaction. Antibodies or imune cells react with the substance, and this reaction again triggers an inflamatory process.

Atopic eczema: This form of eczema occurs when an allergen is inhaled or ingested. This may include a type of food, pollen, dust, or animal dander. People with hay fever or asthma often have this sort of eczema in addition.

Discoid eczema: This is discrete islands of eczema on a background of normal skin.

Sebhorreic eczema: In infants this appears in the nappy area and the scalp. In adults, it also appears on the scalp and in the skin creases between the nose and sides of the mouth. Can be caused by yeast infection.

Grades of eczema

Eczema can occure in differnt degree of acuteness.

Acute: Acute eczema is the condition called if an area has recently flared up and would be red, probably also have blisters and possibly some oozing or crusts.

Chronic: After the initial phase of activity has died down a bit of skin that has been eczematous for a while is dry, scaly, thickened and cracked.

Infected: At any stage of eczema it can become infected. This won’t always be obviously different from acute eczema unless there are pus-filled blisters. With experience one can usually discern the golden crust of infection and pick up the other clues that suggest infection.

Treatment of eczema

Avoiding triggering irritant factors is important to avoid or reduce eczema, but this is not allways easy to accomplish.

An important element of eczema treatment is keeping the skin hydrated by regularly using moisturizers and moisturizing soap substitutes or bath additives.

Traditionally the inflammation in eczema is treated by topical corticosteroids, but these will have side effects in the long run.

Newer inflammation treatments are Elidel cream, containing pimecrolimus, and Protopic ointment, containing tacrolimus. These do not have the side effects of corticosteroids.

Inflammation and other aspects of eczema can be treated with nutritional supports, for example the product dermatin.

Nutritional supplements agaist eczema and their composition

Both of these types of eczema can be helped with the proper nutritional supplementation. The ingredients in Dermatin both nourish the skin and help to regulate the production of inflammatory substances.

Selenium- Some people with eczema have shown to be deficient in Selenium. This anti-oxidant may help fight free radical build-up in the skin which could reduce inflammation.

Zinc- Essential for the functioning of over 300 enzymes and also supports the immune system.

Omega 3- In a 12-week double-blind study, Omega-3 was shown to be helpful for reducing inflammation, itching, and scaling. (2)

Artichoke- Helps regulate the production of inflammatory substances that play a role in eczema.

Grape Seed Ext.- May inhibit the destruction of collagen structures which support the health of small capillaries that supply energy to the bodies tissues.

Milk Thistle- Histamines are known to cause inflammation and are supported primarily by the liver. Milk Thistle supports liver defenses and may inhibit inflammatory substances and histamines in the liver.

Olive Leaf Ext.- Contains an important antioxidant called "oleuropein" which can help reduce the inflammatory effects of food allergies that contribute to eczema.

Gamma Linolenic Acid- This is an important fatty acid that may be helpful for keeping inflammation under control, improving skin roughness, and normalizing blood chemistry. (1) Those with atopic eczema may be deficient in Gamma Linolenic Acid.

BioCell Collagen Type II- Supports healthy skin function and appearance. May boost skin elasticity and support proper would healing.

Hylaronic Acid- This is a structural component of the skin and may be helpful for increasing hydration in your skin.

Chondrotin Sulfate- A major structural component of the cartilage. Chondrotin can help stimulate the production of new healthy cartilage, block enzymes that break down cartilage, and normalize joint fluids to reduce friction. (6)