Eczema Skin Symptoms

Eczema is a skin disorder that causes inflammation of skin. Eczema can affect people of any age group. The appearance of eczema skin symptoms varies from person to person. The eczema skin symptoms also vary depending upon the type of eczema. Atopic dermatitis is the most common type of eczema. The most common eczema skin symptoms include:

• Red colored patches on the skin
• Itchy skin
• Severe itching especially at night
• Dry and scaly skin
• Small water blisters, which may ooze fluid or crust over when scratched
• Raw and sensitive skin
• Cracked skin

The red colored patches on the skin may be long lasting or may come and go. Repeated scratching may cause the blisters to become infected and may also lead to tough, thickened and crusty skin.

The red rashes or patches can occur on any part of the skin depending on the age of a person and type of the eczema. They most commonly occur on the hands and feet, ankles, wrists, neck, face, upper chest, arms and behind the knees. It can sometimes affect the area around the eyes and even eyelids.

The severity of eczema skin symptoms also depends upon the intensity of the eczema attacks and how large an area of the skin is affected. Mild eczema affects a small area of the skin and doesn't itch much. But severe eczema affects a large area of the skin and causes intense itching. The skin may become raw, swollen, crusty or scaly. Sometimes even blood may ooze out of the broken skin.

Mild eczema goes away after moisturizing but severe eczema doesn't go away easily. The people with dry skin are irritated the most. This is because dry skin causes more irritation and also causes you to scratch. But scratching the skin doesn't help the condition. Instead it worsens the eczema skin symptoms.

Infantile eczema is another type of eczema that affects the infants. The condition begins during infancy and may continue till childhood or adolescence. The children with infantile eczema develop eczema skin symptoms most commonly on their faces and scalp but can also develop them on hands and legs.

Infantile eczema skin symptoms involve oozing, crusting rash, which becomes dryer and tends to be red to brown-gray in color after infancy. The skin may become scaly, thickened or itchy in adolescence. These children may have dry skins for rest of their lives. Also, most of the children with eczema skin symptoms develop other allergy related disorders like food allergies, hay fever or asthma.

Varicose eczema is another type of eczema that usually starts in the later periods of your life. You may experience the eczema skin symptoms when you are in your thirties. The very first eczema skin symptom experienced by the people with varicose eczema is the poor circulation of blood to their legs. Eczema skin symptoms show up in their ankles causing a speckled look, which is sore and itchy.

Though there is no cure for eczema you can still manage the condition with the help of a dermatologist. He may prescribe moisturizers, steroid creams or special emollients to lessen the eczema skin symptoms.