SHEILA FRIEDLANDER, MD: The condition is caused by things that we might think of as normal environmental agents. Let's say we have a dry day: for you and me, well, we feel it's a little dry. For a patient with eczema, they become very itchy, they scratch, they break out and they're in misery. Other things that can kick patients off are just the wrong clothing. If they wear wool, it may cause scratchiness for their skin. Polyesters, which will cause them to sweat will cause them to break out. The wrong detergents. Any of these things can cause them to become very itchy, then they break out. And they scratch and it's a vicious cycle. The more they scratch, the more they itch, then they can become infected.
ANNOUNCER: Naturally the first step in controlling eczema is to try and prevent outbreaks.
SHEILA FRIEDLANDER, MD: Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. That's the most important word that you can emphasize to your patient. The other thing is avoidance. To try to avoid things that you know will kick your patient off, will make him worse.
ANNOUNCER: Luckily if an outbreak does occur, there are a variety of options to treat it. Often a priority is to stop the annoying itch.
SHEILA FRIEDLANDER, MD: We need to try to break that itch-scratch cycle. Unfortunately, we don't have any one particular great medicine to stop the itch-scratch cycle, but we do utilize antihistamines. And in large studies, it's been shown that they're mostly effective to make the patient drowsy.
ANNOUNCER: One very effective treatment has been steroid ointments and creams. The problem is that steroids can have significant side effects if used long-term.
