Eczema: itching that
keeps coming back
Eczema is a loop: itching leads to scratching, scratching breaks your skin barrier, and a broken barrier lets more irritants through.
We work on that barrier, with treatments and care that repair it. The medication goes through your GP, and we tune our approach to it.
Itching that keeps you from sleeping, cracks, or patches that keep coming back in the same place: that is a reason to see your GP.
There is treatment for it, and that starts there. The longer the circle turns, the harder it is to break.
The four links
Every point in this loop keeps the next one going. We work on the barrier, because that is the link we can repair.
Turns on until you break it
Tap a link. Every point has someone who can break it, and that is far from always the same person.
Itching
- What happens
- The skin sends out a signal you can hardly ignore, and it is strongest in the evening and at night.
- This is where the circle can break
- This is the point where medication matters most. An anti-inflammatory ointment at the right moment often breaks the loop in days, and your GP prescribes that.
Two of the four points lie outside our door, and that is not modesty but simply how the work divides. Anyone telling you a skin treatment solves eczema is looking at one point of a circle that keeps turning afterwards.
Three things that
look like this.
Eczema is often used as a catch-all for everything red and flaky. These three look like it and ask for something else.
Dehydrated skin
Tight and rough, but without the itching that keeps you from sleeping and without patches that keep coming back in the same place.
To dry skinContact allergy
The reaction sits in a defined spot with a clear shape and starts hours to days after contact with something.
To skin rashPsoriasis
Thicker, sharply bordered patches with silvery-white scales, often on elbows, knees and scalp, and usually less itchy.
To psoriasis
What helps and what we advise against
Putting off your GP because you want to try something yourself first usually costs the most time.
This works
- To your GP with persistent itching, cracks or patches that come back. This is a condition with a treatment, and that starts there.
- Keep moisturising daily, including on the days when there is nothing to see. With eczema that is the basis and not a side issue.
- Shower lukewarm and briefly, and moisturise within a few minutes afterwards.
- Keeping your nails short and something between your nails and your skin at night. Most scratching happens in your sleep.
- Keeping track of when it flares. Triggers are personal and you only see a pattern afterwards.
We advise against this
- Putting off your GP because you want to try a cream first. The longer the circle turns, the harder it is to break.
- Stopping a prescribed ointment as soon as it improves, without discussing it with your doctor.
- Using soap and hot water on a spot that is already broken.
- Cutting foods out on suspicion of allergy. That costs you nutrients and rarely gives an answer.
- Booking a cosmetic treatment on active eczema. It makes it worse, so we do not do it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I come to you with eczema?
Not for the eczema itself, that goes to your GP. Sometimes for the skin around it, if it is calm and you want to tackle something else. We then look at whether it is sensible and say so when it is not.
Does eczema ever go away?
In children it often largely disappears. In adults it usually runs in periods, with quiet times and flare-ups. That does not mean nothing can be done, only that it is managed.
Is it contagious?
No. Eczema cannot be passed on.
Why is it worse at night?
During the day you are distracted and in the evening you are not, and the skin is warmer then too. On top of that you scratch in your sleep without noticing.
Does sunlight help?
In some people yes and in others no, and burning always makes it worse. Light therapy exists as a treatment but it belongs with a dermatologist and not with a skin clinic.
Together with your GP
The diagnosis and the medication go through your GP. Alongside that we work on your skin barrier, with treatments and care that repair it. If your skin is calm at that moment, we can start.
Book a consultation at Diba Clinics
The diagnosis and the medication go through your GP. What your skin needs alongside that, we look at: which care repairs the barrier and which treatment is possible once your skin is calm. If that is nothing at that moment, we say so.
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