Atopic dermatitis and its causes
June 1, 2010 by
Filed under Skin Disease
You must have known someone with atopic dermatitis, maybe your children, your brother or sister, or your close friend’s son, since atopic dermatitis is a common skin disease affecting 10-20% children worldwide. It presents with long term skin inflammation, with periods of remission, and affects patients and their families profoundly. Atopic dermatitis usually starts off when the patient is in infancy or childhood, but it can often persist to adulthood. The typical symptoms include very dry skin, intense itching, inflammation, blisters and skin infections. There are many possible causes of atopic dermatitis such as genetic factors, skin defects, frequent insults from the environment and abnormal immune responses.
The actual cause of atopic dermatitis is still remained unknown, but studies have stated that skin defects and abnormal immune responses are the most important causes of atopic dermatitis. Discussing how skin defects and abnormal immune response cause atopic dermatitis would gain better understanding of the actual processes leading to atopic dermatitis and maybe able to identify the primary cause. In fact, there is newly developed medication called EpiCeram aiming to restore the skin defect which shows results suggesting that the skin defects in atopic dermatitis may be the primary cause.
Patients and their family are affect quite seriously with the intense dry skin, itching and sleep deprivation. If this skin defect can be further confirmed as the primary cause of atopic dermatitis, then patients can benefit enormously with reduced use of steroids cream or ointments and possibly preventing atopic dermatitis from developing in infants and young children.
To learn more about atopic dermatitis or eczema. I have encountered a very good read from Dr. Nasir who is teaching dermatology at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This book tells you everything about eczema sufferers need to know to free themselves from unbearable itching and unsightly rashes.
Check it out: