Doctor shares information parents should know about eczema

Summer is here, which means your kids are likely spending more time outdoors and parents. You may be focusing on sun protection, bug bites, seasonal allergies, all important things. But one common skin condition can easily be overlooked. Eczema affects up to one in five Children globally joining us now live with what we need to know. We have dr Ernest Carter with the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Good morning to you. Thank you so much for coming in. Good morning. So we experience this dry, itchy red skin. I mean, how can we know if it's eczema or if it's something else that maybe we would more commonly expect in the summer months? Well, eczema is different because it's caused by inflammatory or inflammatory response in your body. It's an overactive immune system. People inherit this, and when it when it occurs, it causes the skin to be red and disruptive and very itchy. So when you have dry skin, dry skin, you can moisturize it, and it'll feel better and you feel pretty good. But if you moisturize eczema, it'll have a temporary relief of the itch. But then it comes back, and it can get worse and worse. So then why is early diagnosis important? Well, the reason is because once you have eczema, it starts to get worse. And when the worst part of eczema is the fact that the itch is so intense and the children scratch it, and then it can bleed and then get infected. It can keep them up at night. And it can lead to what they call an atopic march. Atopic means inflammation, and when you have atopic dermatitis means you have inflamed skin. That's what eczema is. But you can get that overactive immune system can cause you to have other allergies. Like it can lead to food allergies. Really? Yeah. It can lead to food allergies, hay fever, and even asthma. So that's why you want to get it early. You want to get it before it progresses. You want your doctor to treat it and to keep an eye on it. And it can help alleviate some of that. Not all of it, but it's very much worth finding out about it early. So let's talk about the screening tools that people have to find out and detect whether or not they have eczema. What should they do or what's available? Well, that's what we're doing at Kennedy Krieger right now. We're evaluating screening tools for eczema. And what it can do is it can help empower the parents to learn to what to watch for. Because the tools help you find, look at subtle things. You know, staying, being disturbed at night. It's a constant itching. And a lot of times children don't tell you everything. A lot of, especially when they're young. Right. Because eczema in a baby sort of shows up on their face. Does it? So yeah, I was gonna say, is it more the, it has more face for babies. What about for adults? For that, but as the children get older, it starts to get into your folds, into your, behind your knees and your ankles. And so it gets, it gets worse like that. It spreads. And in kids, and eczema itself is is red and bumpy. Yeah. As opposed to dry skin. And one of the problems with it is is that that intense itch can really keep them up at night and it can get infected. Yeah. And we don't want that. No. I appreciate you coming in, raising some awareness on this and giving us all that information. Dr. Carter, we appreciate it. Thank you. Take care. Hi, I'm Maxine Stryker. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to like this video and subscribe to our channel and check out Fox Baltimore on social media to find more stories like this.