September 21st, 2008 by admin

Dermatitis (eczema) is an inflammation of the upper layers of skin that is accompanied by blisters, redness, swelling, discharge, crusting, flaking, and often itchy.
The scraping and the ongoing rubbed the skin can cause a thickening and hardening of the same. Some types of dermatitis affect only specific parts of the body.

Contact dermatitis
Contact dermatitis is an inflammation caused by contact with a substance in particular, the eruption is confined to a specific area and tends to be well defined.

The substances that produce demartitis contact can cause inflammation of the skin by one or two mechanisms: irritation (Irritant dermatitis) or allergic reaction (allergic dermatitis). Even mild soaps, detergents and certain metals can irritate the skin after frequent contact. In a statement repeated occasions, including water, can dry and irritate the skin. The strong irritants such as acids, alkalis (such as stain removers) and some organic solvents (such as acetone for nail remover) can cause changes in the skin in a matter of minutes.

In an allergic reaction, the first exposure to a particular substance (or sometimes the first exhibitions) did not cause any symptoms, but the next exposure can cause itching and dermatitis in a span of 4 to 24 hours. People may use (or be exposed to) certain substances for years without problems and suddenly develop an allergic reaction. Even ointments, creams and lotions used to treat dermatitis can cause this reaction. About 10 percent of women are allergic to nickel, the most common cause of dermatitis caused by jewelry. It is also possible to develop dermatitis from any material that an individual touch while working (working dermatitis).

Symptoms
The effects of contact dermatitis range from a mild redness and passenger, a severe inflammation with formation of blisters. Often the rash consists of tiny blisters that produce intense itching (blisters). At first the injuries are confined to the area of contact, but can be extended thereafter. The affected area may be very low (for example, the lobes of the ears if the outstanding produce dermatitis) or you can cover a large area of the body (for example, if the dermatitis appears because of a lotion for the body).

If one removes the substance that caused the rash, redness usually disappear within a few days. The blisters can exudate and form scabs, but they dry quickly. The residual flaking, itching and temporary thickening of the skin can last days or weeks.

Diagnosis
Not always easy to determine the cause of contact dermatitis because the possibilities are endless. Moreover, most people are not aware of all substances that touch your skin. Often, the location of the initial eruption is an important factor.

If a doctor suspected of contact dermatitis but did not discover the cause with a careful process of elimination, you can perform a test of the patch. For this test, are placed over 2 days small patches on the skin with substances that often cause dermatitis, to see if there is an eruption beneath one of them.

Although it is very useful, this patch is complicated. The doctor must decide which substances to test, how much of each substance applied and when should be tested. In addition, the test results can be difficult to interpret. The tests can be falsely positive or negative. Most people can discover the origin of their dermatitis without this test of the patch, systematically eliminating possible causes. Anyway, this is a test that can provide important data to identify the cause.

Treatment
The treatment is to eliminate or avoid what is causing contact dermatitis. To prevent infection and prevent irritation, the affected person should regularly clean the area with water and mild soap. Should not break the blisters. Also dry bandages may help prevent infection.

The corticosteroid creams or ointments often relieve the symptoms of mild contact dermatitis, unless the person makes many blisters, as in the case of reaction to poison ivy. The tablets with corticosteroids (like prednisone) sometimes are usually given in cases of contact dermatitis. Although in some situations antihistamines relieve itching, are not particularly beneficial in most cases of contact dermatitis.