Listen to three patient advocates (including the president of the Eczema Association of Australasia) discuss several "ecz-pressions"—common statements and questions—they hear way too often as people living with eczema. These three individuals open up about their condition and life experiences in a candid conversation.
Eczema patients can spend over a quarter of a million dollars on treatments and products that often do not work. We want to help decrease the burden on young people. Sign our petition! #InsideAtopicEczema
Share your story – your skin condition does not define you! Don’t be afraid to #OwnYourEczema
We also want to hear about your #Eczema Hacks
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Hello - my name is Vanessa Jenkins. I am a mother of 2 (plus a fur baby), and my husband has had atopic eczema for the past 35 years. I have been given the honour of becoming the New Zealand Representative for the Eczema Association of New Zealand.
It is a dream come true for me to be working with the Eczema Association. Since my husband and I began our relationship 14 years ago, eczema has been part of my everyday life. It was a choice that I made to be a part of this world and I am so grateful that it has brought me the opportunity to have a hand in creating more awareness within our society about the impacts of eczema.
I am looking forward to connecting with you all soon and helping people by enabling those with eczema and their families to rise above the aversions and become all that they can be.
To connect with me please email: eanz@eczema.org.nz
Our eczema study is now recruiting. We are looking for volunteers aged 18-65 years, with a doctor’s diagnosis of eczema, to test a mānuka oil based topical treatment. Volunteers must be able to travel to one of the participating pharmacies (listed below). They will be provided mānuka-based cream or control cream to apply twice daily for six weeks. Participants will complete a weekly diary about their eczema symptoms and treatment, and will need to return to the pharmacy six weeks later for a second visit.
This publication from Professor Irwin McLean’s group, shows that lack of the protein filaggrin in the skin caused an inherited dry skin condition known as ichthyosis vulgaris that is strongly linked to the development of atopic eczema. More studies have confirmed this finding and at least 20 loss-of-function mutations (changes in a gene that prevent it working properly) causing filaggrin deficiency have been discovered in many different racial groups. Filaggrin deficiency has also been linked to more severe atopic eczema and to its persistence into adult life.
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Why do it? Many people carry bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus on their skin. This is particularly common in children and adults who suffer from eczema.
Eczema is an itchy skin condition, often worsened by a bacterial infection. Staphylococcus aureus can contribute to the flaring of the eczema and to ongoing skin inflammation. Complete eradication of Staphylococcus aureus in patients with eczema is very difficult, however some therapies can reduce the number of organisms which live on the skin.
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Although many people think an emollient and a moisturiser are the same thing, they aren’t. An emollient is one of the ingredients in a moisturiser. The other ingredients in a moisturiser bring water into your skin. Emollients are the part of a moisturiser that keep your skin soft and smooth. Emollients have been used for over 5,000 years and they form an essential part of the therapy for all dry skin conditions, including atopic and contact eczema. Emollients are safe and effective and, in the majority of cases, mild to moderate eczema can be successfully treated by using emollient therapy alone.
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Eczema is a chronic condition. That means it is not curable and has to be controlled. It is a condition where the skin is constantly inflamed. For over 50 years, topical steroids have been known to be highly effective in controlling this inflammation. There is no other medication that works as well or as efficiently. One of the main functions of skin is to maintain a barrier to the outside world. In eczema the barrier is damaged. Steroids rapidly repair the damaged skin barrier without irritating the skin.
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I joined the Eczema Association of New Zealand after becoming desperate for an end to my itchy, red skin. I was first diagnosed with eczema around the age of 20 and prescribed a mild steroid cream for the rash on my chest. The rash cleared and the unfinished tube of cream sat idle in my bathroom cupboard for years. In my late twenties and thirties, I occasionally developed a small patch of dry skin, which I sometimes treated with a topical steroid cream or with a non‐steroidal emollient. It wasn’t until my early forties that my skin rash become problematic.
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One in eight children have eczema at one time or another as do one in twelve adults. Some of the latter are adults whose eczema has lingered on, while others will have eczema for the first time in adulthood. Some people will have had eczema for the first time as babies or young children and then experience several years of remission only to have the eczema re-appear suddenly and sometimes severely in their adult years. Since one of the homilies that seems to have attached itself to the condition is “you will grow out of it”, it is small wonder that adults with eczema become quite desperate.
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The teenage years can sometimes be the worst for people with eczema. This is not because the condition gets worse at this time: it can get better. As the skin gets greasier the eczema often improves and it is not uncommon for someone who has had eczema severely as a child to become much better at puberty while his non-eczematous friend discovers zits in a big way!
On the other hand, some people find that they have been free of eczema for a while only for it to come back in adolescence: others develop the condition for the first time during the teenage years. It is a very individual condition.
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There are different skin disorders, some of which can start very early on in life, such as cradle cap. This thick scurfy scalp can appear soon after birth or when the baby is a few months old. It can develop suddenly. The scalp becomes coated with greasy yellow scales that stick to the head giving a crusty appearance. This scaliness can affect other parts of the baby’s face and head including the forehead, temples, eyebrows, behind the ears and in the neck folds. The skin underneath the scales may look sore, but it is not a condition that causes discomfort or itching.
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