Eczema causes in adults

A regular question to our team is how having never having had eczema in younger life, how can a sudden flare up occur?

Many eczema causes in adults are clearly not congenital but more likely exposure to changes in certain ‘triggers‘ caused by exposure to more aggressive irritants in the surrounding environment.

‘Triggers‘ include changes in personal hygiene and the extensive use of many branded products, heavily promoted by the major personal healthcare companies which include P&G and Unilever. Some of these products are outside the reach of EEC legislation on control of the display of warning labels on hazardous products.

This problem in adulthood is usually classified as allergic dermatitis. This can be difficult to diagnose by a skin specialist, a Dermatologist.It has to be very carefully analysed by a process of elimination. For instance, a rash on the neck or wrists is commonly associated with the recent use of perfumes in these sites, while a rash on the head is generally associated with the recent use of home dyes. A rash on the fingertips suggests a reaction to nail polish.

Diagnosis will be more difficult when the patient is not seen by their doctor until weeks after allergic dermatitis’s onset. By this time, the dermatitis may have spread well beyond the originally exposed area, and the person may be uncertain about past product use. On these occasions diagnosis is assisted by a patch test.
These are conducted by a skin specialist and involve application of tiny amounts of potential allergens, individually trying to establish which in particular causes redness and sore itchy skin. Whilst not being a perfect science, it is currently considered the most effective means of detemining allergens for a particular individual.
Commercial patch test kits are available as a ”fragrance mix” (FM) of seven common allergens. The highest conscentration of FM allergens is found in the over the counter brands of perfumes and aftershaves.
After you have checked for all those allergens, please bear in mind that the FM tests fail to identify up to 30 % of fragrance allergens. These include the essential oils, lemongrass, jasmine absolute and ylang-ylang.
This is a broad summary of what we choose to expose ourselves to as a matter of preference. On top of these cosmetic, personal healthcare risks, we expose ourselves  to stronger household detergents, poor eating habits, poor quality drinking water and just our surrounding enviroment.
The Skin Salveation staff will be publishing more reports of skin issues by particular subject.

Topics will include:

  • Aquaphor eczema
  • Natural cream for eczema
  • Psoriasis rosa
  • atopic dermatitis
  • contact dermatitis
  • and many others.

Owner of Skin Salveation and blogs about all things eczema treatment

Filed under Eczema