Eczema is a form of inflammation of the upper layers of the skin and the term eczema is broadly applied to a range of persistent or recurring skin rashes. This is not a pleasant skin complaint and those poor individuals that have to deal with it may have many skin problems in the affected areas up to and including bleeding. Traditionally, eczema treatment using anti-itching drugs, often antihistamine, can reduce the itch during a flare up of eczema, and the reduced scratching in turn reduces damage & irritation to the skin. However, dermatitis severely dries out the skin, and keeping the affected area moistened, moisturizing creams and lotions are used and can promote healing and retain natural moisture.

This is the most important self-care treatment that one can use in atopic eczema because the use of anything that may dry out the skin or that removes natural oils from the skin should be discontinued. A range of moistening agents, also known as emollients, of different thicknesses, can be used depending on how the dry the skin is. This rule of thumb means that for dry flaky skin, only thicker ointments can be safely used. Often in milder cases of Eczema, treatment, hydrocortisone or Desonide corticosteroids can be used with great success in reducing the severity of Eczema but unfortunately are not a permanent solution.

Warnings are always given when using corticosteroids though as their overuse will often make the skin become more fragile and make the condition worse than it was. An allergic reaction to certain food stuffs or dietary habits may be a contributing factor to the cause and treatment of Eczema and dermatitis. Although this is still being studied, it could be very good news for Eczema sufferers who might in future be able to avoid certain foodstuffs to control their condition. Although it does depend on the person afflicted, the foods that can cause Eczema are: coffee, nuts, eggs, dairy products, wheat and Soya.

Not all of the Eczema treatments used to combat Eczema are conventional as both alternative medicine and Chinese Traditional medicine also have therapies available as well. Should you decide to try either of these methods you will be required to inform your dermatologist or doctor straight away. It would be fair to say that there are probably more treatments available for the treatment of Eczema with these therapies than with conventional medicine but there is still no guarantees of their efficacy. Antibiotics can also be used as a treatment as eczema causes a disruption in the skin's normal barrier protection through dry and cracked skin and allows easy entry for bacteria.

To make matters worse, the Eczema sufferer can cause this problem themselves by constant scratching. This can escalate the infection which causes further problems until the necessary antibiotic is administered. The UVA band of Ultraviolet light has become another type of Eczema treatment that has some degree of success. However ultraviolet light exposure carries its own risks, particularly eventual skin cancer from exposure. While this is not a complete list or eczema treatments, it does give a reasonably good idea as to the range of therapies used.

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