Causes Eczema Flare Ups Adults

What Can Trigger Atopic Dermatitis

There are certain factors that can cause symptoms of eczema to flare up and make them worse. You will find that many irritants like detergents, soaps, and other existing health conditions, such as dry skin, food allergies, and emotional stress might further trigger eczema.

Thats not all you might experience allergic reactions from other objects like pollen, food, and dust mites.

Drink Plenty Of Water

Keeping your body hydrated can help keep your skin hydrated. Drink at least eight glasses of water per day. This will help moisturize your skin. Those eight glasses can include cups of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or your other favorite warm winter beverage.

Slice up lemons or other citrus fruits and add them to the water for a mild flavor.

How Is Eczema Diagnosed What Tests Are Done

Your healthcare provider will take a close look at your skin. They will look for classic signs of eczema such as a redness and dryness. They will ask about the symptoms youre experiencing.

Usually your healthcare provider will be able to diagnose eczema based on examining your skin. However, when there is doubt, they may perform the following tests:

• An allergy skin test.
• Blood tests to check for causes of the rash that might be unrelated to dermatitis.
• A skin biopsy to distinguish one type of dermatitis from another.

Recommended Reading: Does Acupuncture Work For Eczema

The Importance Of Sleep When You Have Eczema

Easier said than done, right? People living with eczema know how difficult it is to sleep when your skin is itchy and uncomfortable. If eczema is keeping you or your child awake at night, talk with your doctor about how to get a better handle on your symptoms. Taking an antihistamine before bed can help you become drowsy. Enjoying warm, relaxing baths or showers and lathering on the moisturizer before bed can induce sleepiness and stave off itch. It also helps to turn your bedroom into a sleep sanctuary by keeping the room dark, cool and clean, and limiting the use of electronics an hour or two before bedtime.

Learn more about how to get a good nights sleep even when your eczema is flaring.

Winter Weather Brings The Cold

Winter, which is the coldest and driest season of the year across the globe, poses many additional challenges for people with eczema. Moving from extremely cold and windy winter conditions outside to the warm and heated indoor temperatures adds a ton of additional stress to our skin and for people with eczema, this can be enough to cause a flare-up.

In addition to the dry and cold weather, it is also common for people to develop a vitamin D deficiency during the winter due to less exposure to sunlight. While there is still more research needed to be done to prove the connection between vitamin D and eczema flare-ups, it is known that having low vitamin D levels has an impact on the overall health and function of our skin.

In a study conducted from August October in 2019, it was found that 30% of participants from around the world reported that, in the past month, their eczema had resulted in a significant negative impact on their health and wellbeing.

Showing how detrimental this disease can be during more favourable weather conditions associated with the fall or spring seasons, additional stress from extra cold weather leads to increased flare-ups and worse symptom severity in the majority of people living with eczema.

Recommended Reading: What Is The Best Eczema Cream For Adults

You May Like: How Do You Get Eczema On Your Hands

Eczema Coping Tips Good Hygiene

Skin affected by eczema is more vulnerable to a range of infections, including impetigo, cold sores and warts. The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus may cause a secondary infection of impetigo, and possibly contribute to the symptoms of eczema.Suggestions for washing include:

• Take lukewarm baths or showers, and avoid really hot showers.
• Dont use ordinary soap, as the ingredients may aggravate your eczema. Wash your body with warm water alone. For armpits and groin, use soap-free products, such as sorbolene cream.
• Bath oils can help to moisturise your skin while bathing.
• When towelling dry, pat rather than rub your skin.

What Are The Causes Of Eczema

Many factors can contribute to eczema, including an interaction between your environment and your genes. When an irritant or an allergen from outside or inside the body switches on the immune system, it produces inflammation, or a flare-up, on the surface of the skin. This inflammation causes the symptoms common to most types of eczema. Creases of the skin, especially the flexural areas behind the knees, elbows, lower legs and other areas of skin that rub against each other can lead to irritation. There is also a potential genetic component to eczema that includes a protein called filaggrin that helps maintain moisture in your skin a filaggrin deficiency can lead to drier, itchier skin.

Many common household items are also potential environmental irritants and can cause allergic reactions leading to an eczema flare. Additional common triggers of eczema may include:

• extended exposure to dry air, extreme heat or cold
• some types of soap, shampoo, bubble bath, body wash, facial cleansers
• laundry detergents and fabric softeners with chemical additives
• certain fabrics like wool or polyester in clothing and sheets
• surface cleaners and disinfectants
• natural liquids like the juice from fruit, vegetables and meats
• fragrances in candles

Recommended Reading: Is Eczema An Autoimmune Disease

Does Drinking Beer Exacerbate Nummular Dermatitis

Chronic skin rashes such as nummular dermatitis, also called discoid or nummular eczema, cause discomfort and embarrassment 2. This skin condition, which produces coin-shaped lesions on the skin, affects around two in 1,000 people in the United States, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Drinking alcohol in any form, including beer, can exacerbate nummular dermatitis.

Recommended Reading: Best Eczema Cream For Infants

How Do I Take Care Of Myself

Reducing your stress is very important. Try these tips:

• Count to ten as you take a deep breath.
• Exercise daily.
• Try not to drink as much caffeine and alcohol.
• Sleep eight hours a night.
• Eat healthy.
• Try to have a positive attitude.
• Journal every day.
• Talk about your life with friends, family and a therapist.

Don’t Miss: Products For Eczema On Scalp

What Causes Eczema In Adults

Though its not so common, people can develop eczema later in life, even if theyve never suffered from the chronic condition before. What’s going on, and what can you do about it?

Its tricky to diagnose or determine the main cause of adult-onset eczema, as everyones eczema presents differently. Overall, though, eczema in adults tends to act the same way as most variants of eczema: inflammation plus a faulty skin barrier makes skin dry, sore, and insanely itchy.

What causes adult-onset eczema?

Most people living with eczema can hardly remember not having it, and more often than not eczema starts at a very young age. About 1 in 5 children have childhood eczema, but most outgrow it as they get older. When diagnosed in adults, however, the condition tends to persist, meaning that its something they might always be prone to, even if flares come and go.

Studies have shown that adult-onset eczema is more common than one would expect, and it tends to present differently than when diagnosed in childhood.

Physiological changes to the skin as it ages is likely to be the main culprit as the skin structure changes over the years, wrinkles start to form, and the skin becomes more fragile, less elastic, and more sensitive to damage and irritation, as well as slower to heal.

Add general health and well-being to the mix, and anything from hormonal changes to developing allergies can make people more susceptible to experiencing eczema for the first time.

Differences In Rash Appearance By Age

The appearance of atopic dermatitis may depend on your age. In fact, one of the biggest differences between childhood and adult eczema is how it looks on the skin:

• Infants tend to have rashes on the scalp and face, particularly on the cheeks, chin, scalp, and forehead. Skin usually looks weepy and red.
• Babies between 6 months and 12 months often develop eczema on their knees and elbows because of irritation from crawling.
• Toddlers also experience irritation around the knees and elbows but may develop a rash on their ankles, hands, and wrists. A rash around the eyes and mouth is also common in kids under 5. The rash is also more likely to appear scaly.
• Children over 5 typically have rashes behind the knees and in the folds of the elbows. At this age, some people have rashes only on their hands.
• In adults, rashes may appear in these areas but are more common on the hands and eyelids. People who have had lifelong eczema may have thick patches of skin that are darker or lighter than other areas.

Read Also: How Do Cotton Gloves Help Eczema

Eczema Coping Tips Diet

In most cases, eczema isnt caused or made worse by diet. If you notice that your eczema seems to get worse after eating a particular food, you may be an exception to this. See your doctor or dietitian for proper allergy testing and dietary advice.Never self-diagnose or you risk depriving yourself of enjoyable and nutritious foods for no good reason. Unnecessarily avoiding certain foods can lead to nutritional deficiencies.

Also Check: Baby Eczema On Back Of Neck

Practice Good Bath And Shower Etiquette

Take warm baths or showers and keep them short. Long, hot showers can dry out your skin, making it more prone to flare-ups. Use unscented bath products, and not too much of them. When youre done, use a soft towel to pat yourself dry. Dont rub. Slather moisturizer on your skin immediately after a shower, while your skin is still damp, to help your skin best absorb the moisture and lock it on.

Don’t Miss: Best Pajamas For Babies With Eczema

Taking Care Of Your Kidneys

When kidneys fail to function the way they should, the waste that the body generates is not adequately eliminated. And when that happens, the cells get affected and soon start to die. But worry not the survival instinct of our bodies is powerful. So, when the kidneys are unable to eliminate waste properly, it gets redirected and comes out of the skin.

It is important to note that cellular waste causes a burning sensation and has a very low pH. As the waste is quite acidic, it affects your skin, making it itch and burn.

Consider Using Steroid Creams For A Short Period

Steroid creams also known as topical corticosteroids can be used to reduce swelling, redness and itching. If the severity of your flare-up isnt improving with regular emollient use, steroid creams can be useful in the short term as they reduce inflammation in the skin, says Dr McClymont.

You can buy a mild steroid cream, such as hydrocortisone, over the counter from a pharmacy, and stronger creams are available with a prescription from a GP. In rare cases of severe eczema, oral steroid tablets may be considered.

Also Check: Is Cetaphil Lotion Good For Eczema

Be Gentle On Your Skin While Bathing

A long, hot bath might be relaxing at the end of the day, but avoid the temptation of this potential atopic dermatitis trigger. Keep showers or baths as short as possible and use only lukewarm water, advises the NEA. Hot water can dry the skin and cause atopic dermatitis to flare, notes the Cleveland Clinic.

Be gentle on your skin when bathing dont scrub or rub with a washcloth or loofah, and pat skin with a towel after bathing. While your skin is still damp, apply a rich moisturizer to trap moisture in the skin an essential part of treatment for eczema, the NEA notes.

What Is Discoid Eczema

Discoid eczema is a type of eczema characterised by the shape of its lesions, i.e. the circular itchy, dry patches it leaves on the skin. Its also known as nummulareczema or nummulardermatitis, which refers to nummus, the Latin word for coin, because the patches are round and coin-shaped.

This type of eczema tends to affect slightly more older men than women or children, but anyone can get it. It can look a bit like other skin conditions which need different treatment, so its important to get a diagnosis if a flare persists.

Recommended Reading: How To Help Severe Eczema

Recommended Reading: Can I Use Aveeno Eczema Therapy On My Baby

Keeping A Check On The Gi Tract

When suffering from eczema or other skin diseases, make sure that you get the GI tract checked as well. In the worst-case scenario, you might find the GI tract filled with mucus and other harmful matters.

If you want your body to heal fast, it is crucial to get the colon cleaned. The mucus and acids you fail to eliminate only accumulates with time, thereby increasing the chances of experiencing a range of skin diseases.

Whats Causing My Eczema 6 Common Triggers

News, Eczema News & Updates

If youve ever had it, you know it: the dry, red, unbearably itchy skin condition called eczema. And youre not alone one out of every 10 people in the United States has it. Its most common among children, but often found in adults as well.

Eczema actually refers to a number of skin conditions, many of which are related to allergy. The most common is atopic dermatitis, or AD, which is often triggered by food or environmental allergens. Contact dermatitis is another common form of eczema. Its a reaction to allergens and irritants such as soap, detergent, scratchy clothes or nickel jewelry.

An important part of an eczema treatment plan is preventing exposure to allergens and irritants that set off skin problems.

Read Also: How Do I Treat Eczema

Food Allergies And Eczema

Food allergies come as a result of irregular or abnormal immune system responses after eating certain foods.

The human body sees the food as a harmful substance and then initiates some reactions. You feel the responses as symptoms of eczema.

Some of these include symptoms such as hives, itching, swelling, tingling in the mouth, coughing, and vomiting.

In a severe case of food allergy, anaphylaxis can occur. This is a life-threatening reaction where the throat swells and blocks the airway. Pretty scary, right?

Interestingly, food allergies occur more frequently among people with eczema. And investigation reveals that eczema patients often have food allergies.

Now, it is necessary to know that your body is different from someone else’s. This means that the cause of one persons eczema flare-up can be different from yours.

Discovering your food intolerance minimizes your issues with eczema. A good number of the common foods that cause eczema flare-up contain a substance called gluten.

Gluten is a proteinous substance found in foods like barley and wheat. Though its unclear exactly how gluten affects the skin, there is evidence that they are related.

A research study by American scientists shows the link between gluten and eczema.

It shows that gluten has the same effect on eczema flare-ups, as does eggs, nuts, and dairy products.

Below are common foods that cause eczema flare-ups:

Dermatitis In Children The Dos And Donts:

Atopic Dermatitis can be exceptionally difficult and uncomfortable for children. Parents must have a sound comprehension of the condition to flawlessly handle it. There are sure tips that can help the parents including:

• Free and delicate apparel that might assist with reducing tingling caused by dermatitis,
• Keep your kids fingernails short to abstain from scratching,
• Children should try not to become overheated as it can prompt flareups,
• To add dampness to the skin, children should be adequately hydrated,
• Distinguish the triggers and eliminate them from your family to stay away from flareups,
• Children should wash up with neutral water, and
• Stress is a serious area of strength for dermatitis: Assist your kid with ways of dealing with the pressure. This might incorporate various activities, profound breathing, or conversing with a specialist.

Don’t Miss: How Do You Get Eczema Rash

Moisturize Your Skin Frequently

Moisturizing your skin frequently is key to keeping eczema under control since dry skin can be a trigger. What does frequent moisturization mean? Apply lotion at least once a day .

If youre spending a lot of time outside in the cold or you live in a dry climate, moisturizing multiple times a day might be called for.

But the frequency with which you moisturize is not all that matters. Youll also need to think carefully about what youre putting on your skin. After all, the wrong lotion can irritate your skin which is, of course, the opposite of what youre trying to do!

Look for an ointment, cream, or lotion that is hypoallergenic, fragrance-free, and designed for sensitive and eczema-prone skin. Does baby lotion often fit the bill? You bet. And theres nothing wrong with using baby products on your own, adult skin!

We recommend a cream like Babo Botanicals Sensitive Baby Fragrance Free Miracle Cream or a lotion such as Sensitive Skin Fragrance Free Daily Hydra Therapy Lotion or Sensitive Baby Daily Hydra Baby Lotion.

These moisturizers contain natural ingredients that come straight from nature, like shea butter, colloidal oatmeal, chamomile, and coconut oil, just to name a few. And theyre free of parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, petrolatum, fragrance, and common allergens like gluten, soy, and dairy.

Thats a big yes to gentle, natural ingredients and no to questionable, chemical ingredients. This brings us to the next point.