Introduction

Eczema is a skin condition. It can be irritating and painful, especially for children. Fortunately there are treatments for both children and adults that can relieve the symptoms. And there are things you can do to prevent eczema from flaring up.

We've brought together the best research about eczema and weighed up the evidence about how to treat it. You can use our information to talk with your doctor and decide which treatments are best for you.

Eczema is a condition that makes patches of your skin become dry, red and itchy. Scratching can make the skin bleed. It can also make the eczema worse. Sometimes the skin becomes thick and scaly.

If you have a child with eczema, there's a good chance they will grow out of it. But some people have eczema all their life. There's no cure for eczema, but there are many treatments that can help with the itchiness and inflammation. There are also things you can do at home to keep eczema under control.

There are several types of eczema. The most common type is atopic eczema.^[1][2] If a condition is described as atopic, it means that it's caused by an allergy. The information here is about atopic eczema, but we just call it 'eczema'.

Key points about eczema

• About 16 in 100 children in the UK have eczema.^[1]

• About 60 in 100 children who have eczema grow out of it or get milder symptoms as they get older.^[2]

• Some people have mild symptoms that last a few days at a time, while other people may have more severe symptoms that last longer or never go away completely.

• Eczema can be irritating and painful, but it shouldn't prevent you or your child from taking part in normal activities.

• There are good treatments that can help keep symptoms under control.

Your skin

To understand what happens in eczema and how to treat it, it helps to know something about your skin.

• Your skin protects your body from infection and injury. The surface of your skin is made up of a thick layer of dead skin cells. These form a tough barrier that keeps poisons and germs such as bacteria from getting into your body. That barrier also helps to keep in your body's moisture. The dead cells eventually flake off or are washed away. They are always being replaced by new cells that grow from underneath.^[3]

• Your skin keeps itself moist and soft so that it can bend and stretch without breaking. The layer of dead cells in your skin holds water, which makes it feel soft. Your skin also makes a kind of thick, oily liquid called sebum that helps it stay moist. Without sebum, the layer of dead cells would dry out and get brittle. When you wash with soap, you take sebum off your skin. This is why your skin and scalp can feel dry after you've washed.^[3]

Your skin does many other jobs, too. For example, when it's hot it helps keep your body temperature normal by letting extra blood flow to the surface and by making sweat. Your skin also contains a lot of nerves that give you your sense of touch. When you're in the sun, your skin makes vitamin D.