Eczema

Understanding Eczema

Whether you have eczema or someone you know does, living with it is quite hard. Eczema can flare up on your skin for many reasons - and therefore is usually considered to be a group of conditions that can make your skin feel more inflamed or irritated.

What is Eczema?

It is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition that usually is a result of an overactive immune system that responds to triggers that are outside or inside your body.

Bear with us as we get a bit technical to help you understand why this happens

Your skin has 3 layers - the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. Healthy skin has a tougher epidermis that keeps any foreign substances from entering inside. However, when you have eczema, your outer skin (epidermis) is weaker, and therefore more susceptible to the foreign bodies causing irritation. This causes you to scratch, leading to a weaker epidermis, which then leads to more foreign bodies entering your skin! Your immune cells are now aware of foreign substances entering your body, so alert your body’s defenders. These cause the familiar red rashes on the skin!

How can you tell if you have eczema?

Eczema is an inflammation that makes you want to itch - and this is one of the most obvious signs. Eczema comes as red patches on your skin - but the edges are not as well defined as you find in psoriasis. You cannot exactly determine where one patch ends and another begins. And in the case of atopic eczema, these patches are dry and you might assume that your skin is lacking moisture.

The appearance of the patches can change over time - sometimes even becoming worse. In the beginning, they are swollen and have little blisters that open up at the surface and then go on to form scabs or oozing boils. They could also become thick, rough, and dry with painful cracks!

A few of the common symptoms are listed below, however, not all of them might manifest. Or at times, they can all manifest but at different instances

• Red patches
• Itching
• Swelling
• Blisters
• Thickening of skin
• Scabs
• Dry skin

What are the different causes of Eczema?

One of the first Myths we would like to clear up is that Eczema is contagious. It isn’t. There are four main causes of eczema

• Genetic Condition

Some people have Eczema passed onto them through their genes. This might be evident within the first few months of their lives or it might actually flare up much later in life. Because this is genetic, you can usually find other family members with eczema.

• Contact Allergy

This happens when your skin reacts because you have come into contact with an allergen. For instance, if you are a hairdresser and your skin is sensitive to the gloves you use.

• Indirect Contact

This happens when your skin reacts because your skin has come into contact with another object that was in contact with your allergen. Imagine shaking hands and eating along with a friend who is wearing a hand cream with an ingredient you are allergic to. When you are having flare-ups hours later, you might not even realize that this was the cause

• Irritation

This is irritation of your skin by things other than items you come into contact with. Sometimes the environment - pollution, pollen, industrial fumes, and so on can cause flareups

What are the different distinct types of Eczema?

• Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic skin is extremely sensitive to the environment. It is also hereditary - so there might be other family members with atopy. Also, atopy could lead to more than just a skin condition - it can trigger asthma, dust allergies, or hay fever.

• Contact Dermatitis

Contact dermatitis is an allergic reaction caused due to a particular item used by you. This particular irritant causes your skin to become inflamed, itchy, and red. Any part of your body that has touched that allergen will be flared up.

• Dyshidrotic Eczema

This is a type of eczema where you get small itchy blisters on the edges of your fingers, toes, palms, and soles of feet. These persist for about 3 weeks before drying up and resolving. As they dry, your skin cracks and flakes. This condition is more common with women and is usually associated with seasonal allergies.

• Nummular Eczema

People with Nummular Eczema have coin shaped lesions on their torso, arms, legs or hands. These may or may not be itchy. Sometimes you could also have dry and scaly spots while other have wet and open ones. It looks very similar to the fungal infection caused by ringworms.

• Seborrheic Dermatitis

This often appears where you have more oil-producing glands - like the scalp, nose and upper back. You can get dry flakes, or yellow greasy scales with red skin. This type of eczema is usually attributed to genes and hormones.

• Stasis Dermatitis

This often occurs when there is a problem with the blood circulation in your veins - especially in your legs. It is associated with other systemic conditions like High BP, blood clots in veins, and sometimes organ failure.

How to manage eczema?

Navigating through the ins and outs of eczema is a bit scary, we know. It is especially hard knowing that there is no cure, just regular care and treatment to heal the skin.

Step1: The GNST Choc Choc Cleansing Water

This is a cleanser made with EQG Green Grade ingredients that gently cleanses and leaves your skin feeling fresh and moist. It is suitable for babies and for adults!

Step 2: Take bath in lukewarm water with the GNST Coco Bath and Shampoo

To cleanse your entire body - from head to toe - without aggravating any irritation, use this product. Its mild rinsing formula is enriched with Pyrus Ussuriensis leaf extract to tackle the irritation.

Step 3: Apply GNST Body Lotion within 3 minutes of bath to lock in the moisture

This Lotion is designed to protect and nurture your eczema affected skin. The Pyrus Ussuriensis Leaf extract reduces the irritation and itching feel. It deeply hydrates the skin and keeps it supple and moist.

Step 4: Applying the GNST Coco Cream

This cream offers instant relief when feeling irritation due to your eczema flareups. Its soothing comfort suppresses the cytokines that are responsible for itching and irritation. Additionally, it has the Herbal Complex consisting of seven botanical ingredients that immensely calm down the skin

Step 5: Using the GNST Coco Soothing Gel

This soothing gel soothes hot skin and makes your sensitive skin comfortable. Apply it over your skin -especially on dry regions, throughout the day!

Step 6: Remember to use the Lala Suncream every day - even if you are staying in

GNST Lala Suncream offers immediate protection from UVA and UVB rays without drying up the skin. It has the Pyrus Ussuriensis Leaf extract to keep your eczema at bay, and also has Aloe Vera, Centella Asiatica, and Oleovitamin C to hydrate, nourish and protect the skin. It is waterproof and sweatproof!

Additionally, we recommend that you

• Air dry your skin or pat your skin dry with a towel rather than rub the skin dry. This will protect your epidermis!
• Wherever possible, try to avoid rapid changes in temperatures
• Cutting-off fingernails would help prevent scratching and aggravating the blisters from weeping or spreading or becoming further infected. Psst! We would rather suggest you to pop on our Mister Bower Volume Gel Nails because one, you would 'literally' sit and stare in awe of its beauty on your nails, and two, isn't it too much of a hassle to let go of that perfect fit of a nail to waste?

CONCLUSION

While eczema causes a lot of discomfort to you, know that there are multiple at-home treatments that you can try to manage. GNST has a lifetime of testimonials from parents using it on their kids and from adults who have used it to treat their own eczema. Try it out to manage your eczema today!