What Does Eczema Look Like – A dermatologist shares essential facts about the itchy condition, including eczema triggers on the face and neck, and how to relieve it — or at least improve it.
A doctor can determine whether your symptoms are eczema or a rash caused by an allergy or irritant. Dmitry Simakov / Getty Images
What Does Eczema Look Like
Of all the places on the body that itchy, inflamed patches of atopic dermatitis (also called eczema) can occur, the face and neck are the most visible and bothersome.
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“It’s not unusual for people to have eczema on the face or neck, and sometimes it’s a little more prevalent in certain groups,” says Joy Wan, MD, a dermatologist and assistant professor of dermatology at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. She says children are especially prone to eczema on the face and neck, which often starts on the cheeks.
Atopic dermatitis impairs the skin’s ability to act as a barrier, making it less able to retain water. On top of that, some people with eczema can also have allergic skin reactions, known as contact dermatitis. “This can also make their face or neck more predisposed to eczema,” says Dr. Wan.
Here Van outlines 10 key facts to know about eczema on the face and neck, including information on common triggers, strategies for reducing flares, and the best and safest treatments.
1. Eczema can sometimes look different on the face and neck than it does elsewhere on the body
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A person may have eczema on the face that appears very different from eczema on other areas of their body. “Some people may have very typical dry, scaly eczema on their arms or trunk, but then they may have an oozing or weeping form of eczema on their face, or vice versa,” says Wan.
For other people, eczema of the face and neck may appear similar to eczema on other parts of their body. “It tends to be scaly, pink patches on the face, as you might see on the arms or torso,” says Wann. (She notes that pink or red tones may be obscured in people with highly pigmented skin complexions.)
Ultimately, Van says, “there’s no one typical way eczema on the face and neck appears,” and the appearance can vary greatly from person to person.
2. Eczema symptoms on the face and neck can be especially severe because of increased exposure to allergens and other irritants.
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“A lot of the symptoms of eczema on the face and neck can be similar to eczema on other parts of the body — it’s still very itchy and it can be scaly,” says Wan. But for some people, eczema symptoms can be especially severe on the face and neck, which can be caused by a combination of external triggers.
“Unlike other parts of the body, the head and neck are always exposed to the environment, which can contain allergens that can potentially irritate the skin,” says Wan. “These are also areas of the body where a person may use more products — lotions, hair products, makeup, etc. — which can irritate the skin as well.”
If the face and neck are the first places a person gets patches of eczema and there are no other areas of involvement, diagnosis can be challenging, says Wan. A person’s age and eczema pattern can provide some clues.
“For example, young children are often noted to have facial involvement of eczema, and sometimes it starts with just weeping or dry eczema patches on the cheeks, and it may be limited to that,” Van They say.
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The challenge in adults is to differentiate between eczema and a rash caused by an allergen or irritant. “Trying to figure out whether or not some kind of external trigger is really important in these kinds of situations is important,” Wan says.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, more than 15,000 substances can cause an allergic skin reaction. A dermatologist can do something called a patch test to determine whether contact dermatitis is responsible for the rash on your face or neck.
There are two things to keep in mind in this situation: First, some allergens can cause a delayed reaction – so your rash could be caused by something that touched your skin some time ago. Second, it’s possible to develop an allergic reaction to a product you’ve used for years, so don’t dismiss those things.
4. People with seasonal or environmental allergies are more prone to eczema on the neck and face
What Does Eczema Look Like
“Involvement of the face and neck is sometimes an issue for people who have significant seasonal or environmental allergies [such as pollen, pet dander, or dust mites],” says Wan, because the face and neck are exposed to the environment. Come in.”
Wan makes sure to ask her patients how well they’re managing any seasonal allergies. For some people, taking care to avoid triggers and minimizing allergic reactions with medication may be part of an overall plan for treating eczema on the face and neck, she says.
“If we are talking about topical treatments such as creams or ointments that we are applying on eczema, we have to keep in mind that the skin on the face and neck is much thinner than the skin on other parts of the body, Van says.
According to the National Eczema Association, potent topical corticosteroids can thin the skin if applied too frequently and for long periods of time without a break. In some people, topical steroids used on the face can cause small bumps and acne.
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For these reasons, “we often have to limit the length of time we may be able to use stronger corticosteroid creams or ointments,” Wan says. “For example, a steroid cream that we can use on one part of the body for two weeks, we can only use on the face for one week.”
If eczema on the face and neck is a chronic problem, a dermatologist may prescribe steroid-sparing treatments. “These are not typical steroid-based creams and ointments and can therefore be used more safely on the face and neck in a continuous manner,” she says.
The nonsteroidal cream ruxolitinib (Opzelura), for example, is a relatively new option for adults and children 12 years and older with mild to moderate atopic dermatitis.
Although experts often recommend that patients with eczema should limit the frequency of bathing or showering, this advice may be different for people who have rashes on their face and neck that are worsened by seasonal or environmental allergies.
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“We sometimes suggest for these patients that they shower or bathe every day to wash these areas to remove external triggers,” Wan says.
Moisturizing is key to easing eczema, but occlusive moisturizers like petroleum jelly and Aquaphor — which form a physical barrier on the skin to prevent water loss — may not be the best choice for the face. “You may need to use a moisturizer that’s less occlusive on your face than what you can tolerate on other parts of the body,” says Wan.
For anyone with eczema-prone skin, the right facial moisturizer, makeup, and sunscreen can reduce the risk of an allergic reaction. It’s a good idea to test each new product you use on a small area of skin before applying more liberally. “It’s trial and error,” says Wan.
She says that while there are no hard-and-fast rules about which products are safest, those that are fragrance-free and alcohol-free tend to be less irritating.
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Shaving can be an abrasive trigger that can sometimes aggravate atopic dermatitis on the face and neck. “Use shaving cream or another type of barrier to limit that irritation,” says Wan.
“Because the face is a high-risk area, we worry about infectious complications. You can get a bacterial infection on top of a patch of eczema,” says Wan.
For example, there may be a higher risk of infection with the herpes simplex virus (which causes cold sores on the lips or around the mouth), because the face is a “high-touch” part of the body, Wan says.
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In rare cases, a person with atopic dermatitis who is infected with the herpes simplex virus can develop a dangerous condition called eczema herpeticum. Steps you can take to stay safe include avoiding direct contact with a person who has a cold sore and not sharing utensils, lip balm, or other products that touch another person’s mouth. . In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become thickened.
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Steroid creams should generally be of moderate to high levels and should be used for less than two weeks at a time, as side effects may occur.
Or 3.34% of the world’s population. Atopic dermatitis is the most common type and usually begins in childhood.
And the various dictionaries that treat the words as distinct yet do not provide clear criteria to differentiate them, since inflammation, pruritus, and either exogenous or inflaming the dog can all apply to any number of words, and thus the autoimmune component
