When Eczema Sticks

I meet so many patients with eczema, who often cry with relief, when they are allowed time to talk about their unpleasant eczema symptoms and how their eczema affects their life. The symptom of itch is key for everyone with eczema and health care professionals are aware of the itch-scratch-damage cycle (something I discussed in a previous blog http://bit.ly/11YvN2f). However, many health care professionals perhaps do not realise how painful and distressing severe eczema flares can be.

Everyone with eczema has the potential for a severe flare – this is generally associated with infected eczema. My patients often become very distressed when they have a severe eczema flare and describe intense itch, eczema spreading all over their body, red, burning skin; wet and weepy skin which sticks to clothes and bed sheets. Literally, when eczema is this bad, clothing and bedclothes sometimes have to be peeled off the skin; causing intense agony and skin damage; as the outer layers of skin are removed. The skin becomes so painful; nerve pathways alter and the person with eczema cannot even touch their skin. In this situation, the person with eczema quickly becomes exhausted, as they are unable to sleep. Skin healing is inevitably delayed and the sufferer's quality of life diminishes.

Severe flares can sometimes be isolated to areas of the body for certain groups of people with eczema. For example, I often see babies with severe facial eczema and adults with severe hand eczema. Face masks and gloves often stick to these wet and weepy areas. This causes a great deal of distress for not only the sufferer but also the caregiver, who has to peel clothing off of their young child's skin.

I am describing a severe flare of eczema; and I hope that most people with eczema would seek medical help and treatment before this situation escalates but sometimes eczema can become very severe, very quickly. Firstly, the correct treatment with a course of strong steroids and antibiotics is essential. Secondly skin comfort and assisting skin healing is crucial. Emollients are very important and need to be used liberally.

Therapeutic clothing provides comfort by keeping skin cool and reducing itching in all stages of eczema. When eczema becomes severe and leads to sore, wet and weeping skin, it is vitally important that therapeutic clothing does not stick. DreamSkin Health is the only therapeutic clothing with a unique polymer coating. The polymer is non-adherent, so does not stick to skin; so in severe eczema flares this means that skin damage is prevented and healing accelerated. In addition, the polymer, reduces moisture loss, provides a protective barrier against irritants and helps keep skin cool.

In severe eczema flares, clinicians will always treat the skin but remember to also prescribe for assisting skin healing and preventing skin damage.

Eczema Expert

An issue that gets right under your skin

In response to the Daily Mail’s article in which they explore “The nasty bugs lurking in out-of-date make-up” linked here: http://bit.ly/14vHh4h we here at DreamSkin have some thoughts of our own.

While topical steroids are an essential treatment for severe eczema flare ups, they should rarely be used as part of a daily skin routine.  Despite the fact that according to research from the ISOLATE study (International Study of  Life with Atopic Eczema) 42% of eczema sufferers “live in a state of constant concern over when they might experience their next flare up”, there is no guarantee or pattern in many cases for when a flare might happen.  Therefore, creams and ointments do have limitations, although we fully appreciate they are a mainstay treatment for many skin conditions. This is highlighted within the Daily Mail article and brings to light an issue which is a major concern for doctors, nurses and the pharmaceutical industry– compliance. 

Under use of emollients is a primary cause of the mis-management and poor treatment of dermatitis.  The recommended weekly use of emollients is 500g a week for an adult and 250g a week for a child.   However, many patients are either unaware of these amounts or they fail to comply with the recommended dosage, as their lifestyle does not allow it.  As a result patients begin to collect a large stash of pots, tubes and pumps half full with eczema creams that are way beyond their use by date.   Patients then begin to use out of date creams on an ad-hoc basis which can cause more harm than good.   

We believe that DreamSkin therapeutic clothing offers a perfect solution. Compliance is easily achieved and thus much higher in users of DreamSkin. For those unable to apply moisturizers regularly while at work, school or at sleep, garments such as DreamSkin offer the patient the option to be on top of their treatment needs.

Chickenpox Case Study

Here at DreamSkin Health we are always looking for new ways our technology can help families. Chickenpox is a common childhood illness that affects most children at some point. As most parents probably know, it causes a rash of red, itchy spots that cause an extreme amount of discomfort and irritation. A big concern of parents is that the child’s desire to scratch could lead to permanent scarring of the skin. In the war against chickenpox parents have taped gloves to hands, applied copious amounts of calamine lotion and placed children in oatmeal baths.

DreamSkin Health garments are designed to treat skin conditions such as eczema. They help the skin to remain moist, stop irritants attacking the skin and help the skin to maintain its normal temperature. We believed that similar results could be had by those currently suffering from chickenpox.

We received a case study of two girls aged 4 and 7, who trialled our garments to see if they could help relieve the symptoms of chickenpox, and sedate that irresistible urge to scratch away at the skin. The mother of both these girls told us how happy she was with the performance of DreamSkin.  

Her youngest child had typical chickenpox symptoms.

'She started with a few large blisters on her torso and after about 3 days she had many more blisters on her arms, legs and on her face’ mother told us ‘From the very first spot I put her into the DreamSkin pyjamas’.

She reported to us that her daughter had almost no urge to scratch.

'I am absolutely convinced that these pyjamas helped to reduce the itch associated with chickenpox and so helped to reduce the likely hood that her chickenpox will have left permanent scars’.

The mother’s seven year old had similar results.

'Despite a high temperature and getting hot in the night she never once said that she was itchy, or tried to scratch at the spots’.

Chickenpox can be a very stressful and traumatic time for both child and parents. DreamSkin garments may be able to provide relief from the extreme symptoms of chickenpox, and put an end to some of the more antiquated remedies.