Eczema

The Causes of Eczema

 
A number of factors seem to contribute to the prevalence of eczema, including the age of the mother when she gives birth, genetics, immune system deficiencies, environmental factors, and some activities that may make a person more susceptible.

While we all know that eczema isn’t contagious, it does run in families. If your parent or sibling has eczema, the likelihood of you having the condition increases substantially.

 
Genetics play a large role in this condition, and your likelihood of having eczema increases if you have family members that also have seasonal allergies like hay fever, asthma, or eczema. In fact, doctors have noticed a link between children with severe eczema developing asthma or other serious allergies.

The age of the mother plays a large role in the development of eczema. Though it isn’t understood fully, the older a mother is the more likely it is that her child will develop eczema.

The environment plays a crucial role in the development of eczema.

Many sufferers of this condition are from higher social classes and live in urban areas with extremely high levels of pollution.

 

 
If you live in a colder climate you’ll find you have a higher chance of having this irritating skin condition.

Surprisingly, eczema is not due to an allergic reaction to some outside stimulus.

But not surprisingly, children who are susceptible to eczema are also very likely to have food allergies.

 

 
Other illnesses can cause a person’s eczema to flare up, such as acquiring a cold, flu, bacterial infection, allergic reaction, or even prolonged stress.

Triggers that may cause flare ups of a person’s eczema include soaps, household cleaners, perfume, makeup, chlorine, and cigarette smoke.

 
There are many types of activities that may also contribute to the flare up of eczema. For instance, spending a lot of time in the water may cause eczema to worsen. In addition to this, being very hot or very cold, sweating and then cooling rapidly, low humidity in the winter, or living in a dry climate may contribute to the worsening of eczema. Even taking a long, hot shower can increase the pain and severity of this skin condition, and can get worse if skin lubricants such as moisturizer or lotion after the shower.
Although there are many triggers and causes of eczema, it’s not a hopeless situation. There are many natural remedies that can help a person overcome the condition and begin living an eczema-free life. But, as with all health situations, the strongest solution is good prevention, which can be achieved by avoiding allergens, stresses, and making sure that the body is well moisturized after taking a long shower or swimming. Once you can work out the exact triggers that are causing your eczema, you can prevent it from returning again.