subject: Does your child have eczema? [print this page] Does your child have eczema?
If you as an adult have eczema, you may wonder if your child is prone to it or if he possibly already has it. To answer your question of whether or not your child is prone to it if you have it, the answer is yes. Children who develop eczema usually have parents with either eczema or a related skin disorder, or if you have hay fever, asthma, or other allergies, your child is also more likely to develop eczema. Just to clarify, eczema is not actually an allergy, but is instead a skin condition CAUSED by allergies. About one out of every 10 kids will develop eczema during their childhood. Sometimes it's an ongoing thing; other times it may last only a short period and never recur, or recur very rarely. It's impossible to predict just when or if eczema will occur in children, but here are a few symptoms to be aware of, just in case: If your child is under 5 years of age, the symptoms are likely to include a red itchy rash on their cheeks, forehead or scalp. The skin will be very dry and will include small bumps. Over time, the rash will spread to other parts of the body, usually the arms, legs and stomach. Sometimes open lesions will appear. In addition, large circular raised patches of dry skin may appear in the crooks of knees or elbows and on the ankles and wrists. The rash itches terribly; however scratching will cause it to spread and also sometimes cause permanent scarring, so it's extremely important to make sure you address the issue of itching and take steps to keep your child from scratching as much as possible during this phase.
Often, by age 5 or 6, the condition will go into remission and will not recur again for years. During puberty, when hormones go into overdrive and teenagers begin experimenting with deodorant, makeup, and other irritating skin products, it often resurfaces. Usually it's not as pronounced as during the earlier years, but once eczema recurs during puberty, it often continues into adulthood in some form or other. Often it will take the form of small patches of rough, dry skin or possibly nothing more severe than itchy spots on the skin with no discernible reason for the itch.
Getting a true diagnosis for eczema in children is often tricky, as there are numerous other conditions which could account for the eczema-type rash. The doctor may have to refer your child to an allergist in order to get a true diagnosis. Or the doctor may ask you to eliminate certain foods from your child's diet that are known to cause eczema and see if the condition improves. There are a couple of tests the doctor can run, including a blood test, or a patch test, to help determine if eczema is the culprit or if the rash is due to another cause.
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