Q: What is eczema?
There are many different types of eczema, but the most common childhood eczema is atopic eczema, which affects between 15 and 20 per cent of children in the UK. Atopic eczema usually runs in families and is often connected to asthma and hay fever.
Contact eczema, which is caused by irritants such as detergents, perfumes and nickel in jewellery, is also increasingly prevalent in teenagers.
Eczema makes the skin dry, hot and intensely itchy and it can become broken, raw and bleeding. The itchiness produces an urge to scratch, which is impossible to resist.
About three-quarters of children grow out of atopic eczema by puberty. It is typically those who have the most severe eczema who retain it into adulthood. There are however no certainties - and that is one reason why eczema can be such a challenge.
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