🧴 Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis)
PH
PureHealthness Editorial Team · Health writers & reviewers
📝 Last reviewed: August 2026
✔ Transparent sourcing · Some articles are AI-drafted, then reviewed & fact-checked by our team
📝 Last reviewed: August 2026
| In brief | Intensely itchy, dry, red, or cracked patches of skin that may ooze fluid when scratched. |
|---|---|
| Category | Skin |
🔍 What causes it
A mix of genetics and environment — a defective skin barrier that loses moisture and reacts to irritants. Triggers: soaps, heat, sweat, wool, dust mites, food allergies in some children, stress.
⚠️ Key symptoms
- Intensely itchy, dry patches — commonly inside elbows, behind knees, on hands
- Red or darkened, cracked skin
- Oozing and crusting when scratched hard
- Flare-ups alternating with clearer periods
💊 Treatment
Moisturise daily with thick emollients, use mild soap-free cleansers, short lukewarm baths, topical steroid creams for flare-ups (as prescribed), avoid scratching. Severe cases: specialist creams, phototherapy or newer biologic medicines.
🛡️ Prevention
Daily moisturising, identify and avoid personal triggers, cotton clothing, keep nails short, manage stress.
🚨 See a doctor / red flags: See a doctor promptly if symptoms are severe, do not improve, or get worse — especially for children, older adults, pregnant women, or anyone with a chronic condition.
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