Other Types Of Eczema
Eczema is the name for a group of skin conditions that cause dry, irritated skin. Other types of eczema include:
- atopic eczema the most common type of eczema, it often runs in families and is linked to other conditions such as asthma and hay fever
- contact dermatitis a type of eczema that happens when the skin comes into contact with a particular substance
- varicose eczema a type of eczema that usually affects the lower legs and is caused by problems with the flow of blood through the leg veins
Page last reviewed: 30 October 2019 Next review due: 30 October 2022
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Add One Of These Acids Into Your Routine
Step 3: Add a potent serum
Serums are usually packed with a high percentage of active ingredients that work to either deeply hydrate your skin or brighten/smooth/resurface your skin. For dark spots, you want a serum that puts in work. Look for a formula thats filled with one of these ingredients:
- Kojic acid: While most acids work to exfoliate your dark spots away, kojic acid also works to prevent them by interfering with your skins melanin production. So not only will kojic acid fade your current discoloration, but itll also help block new spots from sticking around.
- Niacinamide: This superhero ingredient is a form of vitamin B3 that helps balance out your oil production while also fading your dark spots.
- Vitamin C: An antioxidant that protects your skin against environmental aggressors that cause inflammation. It also helps to fade acne scars and dark spots while helping to smooth fine lines over time. Its basically a do-it-all ingredient.
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What Causes Discoid Eczema
The cause of discoid eczema is unknown, although it is often accompanied by dry skin and is thought to be triggered by irritation of the skin.
Discoid eczema tends to affect adults and is rare in children. It is more common among men aged from 50 to 70 and women in their teens or twenties.
Some people with discoid eczema may also have other types of eczema, such as atopic eczema.
Read more about the causes of discoid eczema.
Medical Treatments Or Eczema On Face
If the home remedies dont make any improvement of eczema on your face, then its understandable and advisable to try out medical treatment. First, visit a specialist or dermatologist before trying out any facial cream or procedure to deal with eczema. Here are the medical treatments of eczema on face:
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How To Treat Dark Spots
The first line of treatment is prevention. When eczema is better controlled, folks will have fewer dark spots. There are a couple home remedies and treatment options to consider, such as an eczema diet and decreasing sun exposure. Try eating anti-inflammatory foods and using sun protection, such as sunscreens and hats, on sunny days. A good skin care routine, including a moisturizer or lotion for dry skin, can also limit the effects of this skin condition.
You can also talk to your dermatologist about medical options, such as topical steroids, to prevent and treat eczema.
Even with the best efforts, you can still get dark spots and skin discoloration. When there are patches of hyperpigmentation, there are some options to treat and eliminate dark spots:
- Topical skin lightening creams that are applied to the affected areas of skin
- Your dermatologist can perform in-office procedures to help, such as superficial chemical peels
- A trained professional can also use laser surgery on the affected area
How To Heal From Eczema Scars
From seborrheic dermatitis to atopic dermatitis, there are several different types of eczema. While the different types each have defining characteristics that set them apart from one another, one common symptom is intense itchiness.
Unfortunately, relentless scratching can sometimes lead to scarring, especially if the skin cracks or bleeds. Lets take a closer look at how to heal eczema scars in our post below.
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How Often Should I Use Cetaphil
Use once or twice a day! Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser can be used in the morning and in the evening as it has a low-foaming formulation that has been known for its gentleness on the acne-prone skin. So, if you have a daily skincare routine for acne, Cetaphil is gentle enough to use on your face every day.
Personally, I have used Cetaphil two times daily, in the morning and at night to make sure that my face is free from all skin surface oils, dirt and makeup as I begin a new day and as I finish my day at night
You will like Cetaphil facial cleanser as it does not irritate or strip out the skin, which in many cases other products can leave your skin feeling tight and dry.
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Your Eczema May Not Disappear Completely But You Can Help Keep Your Skin Healthy
I emphasize to my patients that they shouldnt expect their symptoms to completely disappear once they start treatment. Its equally important to adopt lifestyle changes and to understand that, at baseline, most people with eczema have super dry and sensitive skin, even when the eczema isnt flaring. I want people to understand that there are things you can do every daygood days, medium days, and bad daysto keep your skin looking and feeling its best.
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How To Lighten Eczema Scars
If your eczema scarring is particularly raw or aggressive, your best bet is to try to lighten your eczema scars, rather than get rid of them.
Both aloe vera and cocoa butter can help to lighten eczema scars when used overnight every night. See below for more tips on using aloe vera and cocoa butter on eczema scarring.
Makeup meant for covering scars and blemishes will also help to hide the scarring caused by eczema.
Keep Hands Off Bug Bites Blackheads And Other Injuries
As tempting as it may be to scratch a mosquito bite or squeeze a stubborn blackhead, remember your mother’s warning “Don’t pick!” and follow that advice. “Scratching and picking at a spot will only increase the inflammation that’s responsible for skin discoloration,” says Jeanine Downie, MD, a dermatologist and the director of Image Dermatology in Montclair, New Jersey. “The more you mess with it now, the worse it’ll look later.”
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What Foods Should I Eat Or Avoid To Reduce My Risk Of Eczema
The connection between eczema and food allergies is unclear. If you have food allergies, then one of the reasons why you must avoid that food is that it may cause or worsen dermatitis. Examples of common allergies include peanuts, dairy, eggs, sugar, alcohol and gluten. Pay attention to what you eat. If your eczema flares up after you eat a certain food, then you might have an allergy to it.
If you dont have a food allergy then there are no foods, including chicken, that will cause or worsen your eczema.
Understanding Different Kinds Of Eczema Pigmentation
Inflammation stimulates the activity of melanocytes, the cells that give skin their color, boosting the production of skin pigment and causing darker patches of skin, or hyperpigmentation. Every time you scratch your skin, more melanin is released and the patch of skin gets darker. Since those with darker skin have more melanin, the reaction causes even more pigment production.
Darker patches of skin are a result of post-inflammatory pigmentation or lichenification.
Post-inflammatory pigmentation: After an eczema flare subsides, skin might be darker in the places where eczema lesions have healed. This is called post-inflammatory pigmentation and itâs also more common in darker skin .
While the dark patches caused by post-inflammatory pigmentation will eventually fade, they can remain on the skin for months and may last even longer. Research shows that post-inflammatory pigmentation lasted up to 5 years in more than 22% of diagnosed cases. Daylight can make post-inflammatory pigmentation worse, so sun protection is essential.
Lighter patches of skin are called pityriasis alba.
Eczema pigmentation is often mistaken for scarring. If eczema patches become infected, they can leave scars, but hypopigmentation and hyperpigmentation have a totally different cause than scarring the pigment changes affect only the upper layer of the skin and donât leave scars. Unlike scars, which are permanent, pigment changes are temporary and often resolve on their own.
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Add An Acid To Your Skincare Routine
Before you self diagnose your skin condition, Dr. Agbai recommends consulting a dermatologist to determine what type of hyperpigmentation youre dealing with so you know how to best treat it. She warns that some skin cancers, fungal infections, inflammatory disorders, or signs of systemic disease could look like dark patches on the skin and you wouldnt want to be treating the wrong thing.
If it does turn out you have PIH, the best time to treat scars is when they are fresh, says Dendy Engelman, MD, a dermatologist in NYC. Look for salicylic acid or glycolic acid peels that will help promote cellular turnover to remove the top layers of the skin that hold the pigment.
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If youre hoping to achieve a more even complexion overall, she recommends brightening ingredients like kojic acid, phytic acid, and L-ascorbic acid .
How To Fade Dark Spots In Darker Skin Tones
Have you tried treating dark spots on your own without getting the results you want? Do you see new dark spots appear as others fade?
If you answered yes, youre not alone. Darks spots and patches rank as one of the most common reasons that people who have darker skin tones see a dermatologist. The medical name for one cause of these dark spots is post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Some people just call it hyperpigmentation for short.
Before and after treatment for dark spots
His dermatologist used laser therapy and prescription-strength hydroquinone cream to even out his skin tone in 8 weeks.
Getting rid of hyperpigmentation begins with finding out why you get these dark spots or patches. If you can eliminate the cause, many spots will clear on their own and you can prevent new ones from appearing.
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How To Get Rid Of Black Spots On Skin
You have no reason to live with dark dots or patches on your skin that affects your beauty. Our main interest is on how to remove dark spots on face overnight or instantly if possible. You can use home remedies to remove mild common dark dots on the face and from other parts of the body skin.
Alternatively, dark spots that wont go away from your skin easily, medical treatment is the best option you can go for by visiting your doctor to help you on how to remove dark spots on face fast and on other parts of the body skin.
How Different Skin Types Are Affected
The features of eczema differ depending on the persons skin type.
On paler skin, the typical pattern is inflamed, red or dark pink patches, with dry itchy skin, which in severe flares may ooze with small vesicles .
On darker skin, inflammation is more difficult to detect, as it is seen as various stages of hyper-pigmentation and is more subtle, so often redness is not seen. As a result, the severity of eczema can be underestimated.
Post-inflammatory hypo- and hyper-pigmentation are a much greater concern in people with darker skin, as it can take months for this to resolve and the discoloration can sometimes be a greater concern than the eczema itself.
Another feature of eczema, more commonly found in darker skin, is follicular prominence. This is where the eczema appears in small, itchy bumps or papules on the skin mainly on the trunk and forearms. Dry skin and scale can also be more prominent, as its white or grey colour shows up most noticeably.
A UK longitudinal study into ethnic variations in atopic eczema reported that children with darker skin were more likely to develop atopic eczema than their white counterparts and were six times more likely to develop severe eczema.
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How Can Remove Dark Spots As Result Of Eczema
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How Can You Tell The Difference Between Paget’s Disease And Eczema
Pagets disease of the breast is a rare form of breast cancer that involves the skin of the nipple and can extend onto the areola. It has many of the same symptoms as breast eczema, which can sometimes lead to a misdiagnosis. These symptoms include:
- Itching, tingling or discoloration in the nipple area.
- Flaky, crusty or thickened skin.
- A flattened or turned in nipple.
- Yellow or bloody leakage from the skin of the nipple.
However, there are differences between Pagets disease and eczema. Pagets disease may affect your nipple, while eczema rarely affects your nipple. Pagets disease also typically only affects one breast, while eczema affects both breasts and other parts of your chest.
Pagets disease wont respond to the same treatments as eczema. The tests used to diagnose Pagets disease include:
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The Wait And See Approach
In some cases, no treatment may be the best option, as the spots could go away over time.
For example, this may be the case for some types of hyperpigmentation that occur during pregnancy or those that appear after an acne pimple goes away.
In the meantime, the use of sun protection can help prevent the spots from getting darker.
What Worsens Dermatitis What Triggers It
Try your best to figure out what triggers your dermatitis. Its important to remember that it can affect people differently.
Is your dermatitis triggered by a chemical you clean with? Do you get it every time you go to your uncles house, because hes a smoker? Does your scalp feel itchy since you started that new shampoo? Did that rash on the inside of your wrist appear after you tried that new perfume? Does excessive sunlight make your dermatitis better or worse? Do you feel itchy every time you wear that wool sweater?
Remember what else worsens dermatitis: stress, hot showers, allergens like pollen and pet dander, etc. Find out what worsens your dermatitis and do your best to avoid it.
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Whats The Difference Between Dermatitis And Psoriasis
Psoriasis and dermatitis can appear similar. Both cause patches of red skin. However, in psoriasis, the scales are thick and the edges of those scales are well-defined.
Discuss with your healthcare provider your questions about which type of skin condition you have. You can have more than one skin condition at a time. Treatments for one may not work for the other.
Ask A Dermatologist About High
If topical solutions aren’t fixing the problem, you may want to talk to your dermatologist about more aggressive ways to banish discoloration, such as chemical peels, microdermabrasion, or dermabrasion, or, per the International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine, a laser resurfacing procedure. (Important note: If you have melasma, lasers are considered third-line treatments, as they have not been found to get rid of excess melanin production, according to a review published in March 2017 in the International Journal of Women’s Dermatology.
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Things To Avoid For Eczema Scars
Apple cider vinegar, or ACV, has antiseptic properties and is rich in vitamins and minerals. Its also able to remove dead skin cells when applied directly to the skin, since it has an exfoliating effect.
However, we don t recommend using it on the skin to help treat eczema scarring since it can be very harsh and can strip the skin of beneficial oils.
Why Do These Spots Appear
Eczema causes an inflammatory response in the body. This triggers the release of protein cells called cytokines that stimulate the cells responsible for producing melanin, explains Michele Green, MD, a board certified cosmetic dermatologist.
Melanin is a type of pigment that affects your skin color. When melanin production ramps up, the pigment can get transferred to the top layer of the skin, resulting in patches of discoloration.
Not everyone who has eczema will notice these spots. Because people with darker skin naturally have more melanin, theyre more prone to hyperpigmentation, says Green.
Green also points out that sun exposure can trigger or worsen hyperpigmentation since the suns UVA rays can cause cells to produce more melanin.
Even scratching your skin can lead to darker patches.
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