Eczema can be a distressing skin condition, whether you develop it a few times a year or experience it every day. If you start getting itchiness and rashes, it’s important to seek medical assistance from your doctor, so a better plan can help you control eczema.
When you consider any treatment of eczema, it’s necessary to know what triggers your condition has. Good knowledge about the allergens in your surroundings, as environmental factors to cause eczema, will make you better manage it, no matter you are having traditional medicinal treatment, alternative therapies or both.
How you can treat eczema?
Treatment for eczema has four major approaches; to control the itch, to heal the skin, to prevent flares, and to get rid of infections. The proper treatment depends on your age, severity of your symptoms, your medical history and other things. You’ll probably need to get the best treatment to keep your skin healthy. Following are illustrated medications and therapies you can use to treat eczema.
Medications
Your doctor can recommend several medications including creams and ointments with corticosteroids to ease inflammation. Get to know more about treatments for when your eczema gets worse.
1. Corticosteroid creams, solutions, gels, foams, and ointments
These include anti-inflammatory treatments, made with hydrocortisone steroids. It can help quickly relieve major symptoms of itching and reduce allergy. They are available in multiple strengths, from mild over-the-counter (OTC) medications to stronger prescription treatments.
Side effects are quite rare from these medicines, like stretch marks and thinning skin. It’s always better to use them as directed.
2. PDE4 inhibitor
A medicine nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory called crisaborole (Eucrisa) is used to deal with mild to moderate forms of eczema. A twice-a-day medicine for patients 2 and older has been proved better in treating eczema and help reduce inflammation making the skin look more like normal.
3. Barrier repair moisturizers
They help moisturize skin locking water into your skin and repair damage. These moisturizers ease redness, dryness, and itching. Some lotions may give pleasant fragrances or other ingredients, so ask your dermatologist or pharmacist which ones you should apply on your skin or which one you should avoid. .
4. Calcineurin inhibitors
Some medicines you apply on your skin (known as topicals), help treating moderate-to-severe eczema, such as pimecrolimus and tacrolimus. They reduce inflammation, but are not steroids. If OTC steroids stop working or cause complications, these medicines are often recommended and are way better.
5. Corticosteroid pills, liquids, or shots
These eczema drugs help lower the symptoms of severe or hard-to-treat skin condition. But they may have a few side effects like skin damage and loss of bone density, so always take them only for a short period.
6. Systemic immunomodulators
These are the drugs that weaken your immune system help sustain your body’s defenses from overreacting. Examples may include cyclosporine, methotrexate, and mycophenolate mofetil. You can use them as a shot, as pills, or as liquids. They reduce inflammation, decrease itching so you scratch no more, and your skin can get time to heal.
7. Biologics
They contain proteins from living tissues or cells which calm your immune system. Biologics reduce inflammation and other eczema symptoms.
You can take them as a shot under your skin or a needle in a vein. The first FDA-approved biologic for people 6 with eczema is Dupilumab (Dupixent), when other treatments haven’t worked.
8. Antibiotics
Doctors recommend antibiotics when eczema develops alongside a bacterial infection. Scratching makes your skin worst, which leaves a space for bacteria to get under your skin. These medicines help getting of bacterial infection.
Therapies
Therapies you can consider to treat eczema are discussed below.
1. Light therapy
This treatment is used if you don’t get better with topical medicines or if eczema symptoms rapidly flare again after treatment. It can help treating from moderate-to-severe eczema. One of the simplest forms of this light therapy (phototherapy) includes exposing your skin to the much controlled amounts of natural sunlight. Other methods involve artificial ultraviolet A (UVA) and narrow band ultraviolet B (UVB).
2. Wet dressings
This is one of the most effective therapy treatments to treat eczema. Wet dressings are may be an intensive treatment to cure severe atopic dermatitis, specifically involves wrapping your infected skin area with topical corticosteroids or wet bandages.
Wet dressing therapy is applied in a hospital (especially if you have widespread lesions) because it’s labor intensive and needs staff expertise. But you can ask your doctor about how to do this treatment at home.
3. Relaxation techniques
Relaxation is extremely important as there’s a direct link between stress and your skin. Additionally, you tend to scratch more when your emotions are running high.
Self-hypnosis or meditation therapy has been shown to improve eczema symptoms. You can also talk to a therapist who can help you change lifestyle or avoid negative thought patterns that may be worsening your skin problems.
Treatment for eczema in babies
Also called infantile eczema, infant eczema treatment may include:
- Characterizing and preventing skin irritants or allergens
- Avoiding direct exposure to extreme temperatures
- Moisturizing your baby’s skin gently with bath oils, creams or ointments
Consult your baby’s doctor if the rash looks infected. Your baby may require a prescription medication to treat an infection. Oral antihistamine is mostly suggested to help relieve the itchiness and to cause drowsiness for nighttime itching and discomfort.
How you can prevent eczema?
Along with the treatments mentioned above, there are certain preventions you can help yourself to lower the risk of symptoms and prevent further complications.
1. Try to minimize the damage from scratching
Since eczema is often itchy, it can be very enticing to scratch the areas of your affected skin. You must know that scratching (most of the time) results in more destruction of the skin, which can cause more eczema to develop or spread.
Chronic scratching can also make the affected area to become thick into leathery areas. Try to reduce scratching as much as you can. You could rub your skin gently with your fingers instead. In case, your baby has atopic eczema, try anti-scratch mittens that may stop them scratching their skin.
Do not grow your nails longer and clean them regularly to minimise further damage to the skin from involuntary scratching. Cover your skin with light clothing to decrease the damage from habitual scratching.
2. Know eczema triggers
If you know triggers, you can try effective ways for the prevention of eczema.
- If certain fabrics cause allergy on your skin, then avoid wearing such fabrics. You should stick to soft fabric, natural materials or fine-weave clothing such as cotton
- If you are one of those people whose skin irritates by heating, try avoiding direct contact with heat. It can aggravate your eczema as well. You can keep the rooms cool in your home, particularly in the bedroom. Try not sit closely to heater in winters.
- Do not use toxic soaps and detergents that can affect your skin. You can apply soap substitutes instead.
- If you are allergic to house dust mites, trying to get rid of them in your home is not usually suggested because it may not be easy. Also, there’s no clear evidence that it can help.
