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eczemaColumbia Encyclopedia entry: eczema
Eczemaĕk'səmə, acute or chronic skin disease characterized by redness, itching, serum-filled blisters, crusting, and scaling. Predisposing factors are familial history of allergic disorders (hay fever, asthma, or eczema) and sensitivity to contact allergens or certain foods. The condition is often irritated by excessive sweating, exposure to extreme heat or cold, and abnormal dryness or oiliness of the skin. Eczema may occur at any age and in both sexes. It is frequently chronic and difficult to treat, and it tends to disappear and recur. Itching can be extreme and severe, and it can often lead to an emotional disturbance. Treatment usually necessitates the avoidance of all unnecessary skin irritation; creams or lotions containing topical immunomodulators, such as tacrolimus (ProTopic and Eladil), or corticosteroids are sometimes helpful. Care should be taken to avoid secondary infections.
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Wikipedia search results for: Eczema
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eczema is a disease in a form of dermatitis, or inflammation of the epidermis. The term eczema is broadly applied to a range of persistent skin conditions. These include dryness and recurring skin rashes that are characterized by one or more of these symptoms: redness, skin edema, itching and dryness, crusting, flaking, blistering, cracking, oozing, or bleeding. Areas of temporary skin discoloration may appear and are sometimes due to healed lesions. Scratching open a healing lesion may result in scarring. Eczema may be confused with urticaria. In contrast to psoriasis, eczema is often likely to be found on the flexor aspect of joints.
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Columbia Encyclopedia search results: eczema
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