People deal with stress in all aspects of their lives, between work, school and just being at home, all that stress cause take its toll on your body. One of the most common things all that stress will affect is your skin, as many people know, stress can cause acne, but that is not the only thing you should worry about. While acne is not something we wish for in life, when you think about eczema, it really isn’t all that bad.

Eczema, an irritation of the skin that can result in small, itchy, red bumps, comes in many forms. The most common, and most severe, is the form called atopic eczema. While no one knows what causes it, there are things that are thought to help the eczema itching. These things are allergies, to a variety of things, and the toll the allergies take on someone’s immune system leaves the door way open for eczema to invite itself in.

This condition is not contagious, and can be hereditary. Scientific results leave most thinking that children whose parents were prone to hay fever or had asthma, are then susceptible to getting this skin condition. Most often the allergies that lead to eczema are dairy, eggs, wheat, soy and fish, along with simple triggers like allergies to fabrics, dander, and dust.

The most common places you can find eczema are behind the knees, on the wrists, ankles, neck and face. While they are the most common, they are not the only places you may have it because no part of your body is immune to eczema simple because every inch is covered in skin. Flare ups may be hard to avoid when it is in these places, especially if the person who has the condition is under severe stress for an undetermined amount of time.

Symptoms of a flare up include a feeling of heat coming from that area along with itching. The itching will in turn cause one to scratch which will then lead to flaking and leathery skin. If the condition gets too out of hand the skin can become scaly and very dry.

Many times, atopic eczema will be misconstrued as dermatitis. Dermatitis is a condition that is caused by an allergic reaction to certain dyes or perfumes in detergents or fabrics. In order for a doctor to determine which condition you have they will ask a number of questions about you and your family’s medical history, as well as what kind of stress you may be going through at home or work, if any.

There are treatments for eczema, as well as anti eczema medications. The treatments are usually topical creams that will ease the itching and dryness eczema may cause. The medications are taken orally and are used to prevent the flare ups from happening at all. In some instances, if the condition is bad enough, the doctor’s may even use light therapy, which uses ultraviolet light and will typically clear the eczema up.

Like many other conditions out there, eczema is one that has no cure. With that said, there is no need to be discouraged if you have eczema because there are treatments that will lessen the flare ups and making living with it almost easy. You can also take the right steps in preventing a flare up by staying away from perfumes, eating the right foods, and wearing cotton clothing rather than wool or any other rougher material.

You should bath regularly but take the appropriate steps to avoid drying out your skin simply because you have showered too often. If you need to, wear gloves to avoid over exposure to water in your hands, and stay away from scented lotions. When you get out of the shower you should use only a soft towel, and dab rather than run the affected areas. This will keep you from making things worse when it could have been avoided. When you get an itch you should avoid scratching at all costs. The only thing that will do is make things worse and you don’t want that. Instead ignore the itch if possible or use some lotion to sooth the area.

Eczema usually goes away by the time you reach 25 so until them, just be patient and take the precautions as needed and explore diet options to find a permanent and natural eczema cure.