Eczema: A Visual Guide to Eczema Rashes

If your child has eczema, keep their fingernails short and their skin moisturized. Dress them in loose-fitting clothes and make sure they don't get overheated. Depending on how severe their eczema is, your doctor may recommend wet wraps, a diluted bleach bath, over-the-counter or prescription medications, and/or light therapy to help.

Prescription skin meds that calm an overactive immune system can treat eczema from atopic dermatitis. Doctors generally prescribe them only for short-term use in people who've tried other treatments that haven't helped. They have a "black box" warning due to a higher cancer risk. So ask your doctor about the pros and cons. A biologic medication called Dupixent, given as a shot, works on the immune system to treat atopic dermatitis.

Over-the-counter hydrocortisone or nonsteroidal prescription creams may ease mild to moderate eczema. Ask your doctor before using corticosteroids on children under 2. Don't use them for more than 7 days. Sometimes, stronger corticosteroids are needed to control inflammation. Side effects, like thinning skin, infections, and stretch marks, are more likely with long-term use. You have to be careful using steroids on the face, especially around the eyes. For severe eczema, your doctor may recommend steroid shots or pills, or biological injections.

Doctors don't know exactly what causes atopic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema. Genes likely play a role. An immune system problem could create inflammation in the skin. Emotional problems aren't a cause, but stress can make symptoms worse.

Irritants can cause inflammation and itching, bringing on eczema. Harsh chemicals can cause a rash in anyone, but people with eczema may be sensitive to mild irritants, such as wool and synthetic fabrics, detergents, soaps, perfumes, and cosmetics. Stress or anxiety can cause a flare-up, too. So can sweating, along with wetting and drying your skin a lot, such as when you wash your hands. Cold, dry environments can also cause a flare.

There's a connection between those two conditions and atopic dermatitis. If a parent has hay fever or asthma, their children are more likely to have the skin condition. And many children with atopic dermatitis will go on to get hay fever and/or asthma.

You might notice itchy patches on the hands, elbows, and in the "bending" areas of the body, such as the inside of the elbows and back of the knees. But eczema can appear anywhere, including the neck, chest, and eyelids. People who had atopic dermatitis as a child may see drier, scaly rashes as adults. The skin may be discolored or thickened.

Kids can get eczema in a lot of different places: the inside of their elbows, behind the knees, on the face, on the back of their necks, or on wrists and forearms. You can't "catch" eczema -- it's not contagious.

Infants who are 6-12 weeks old can get atopic dermatitis as a patchy facial rash. Moisture from drooling makes it worse. In some cases, the condition goes away by age 2. But about half of people who had atopic dermatitis as a child will have it as an adult.

It's sometimes called "the itch that rashes," because the itching usually comes first. This group of skin rashes is very common in babies and toddlers. Adults can have it too, often as scaly, leathery patches or on their hands. Atopic dermatitis is a common, often inherited form of eczema, but there are other types and many treatments.