Checking the skin or nail lesion with wood lamp involves shining a hand-held wood lamp device on the area of concern by your physician.
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Eczema is a common inflammation condition of the skin. Although eczema can occur any time in one’s life, it typically starts presenting when one is a child.
You may have come across medical terms such as ‘atopic eczema’ or ‘atopic dermatitis’.
‘Atopy’ is a term to describe an umbrella of hypersensitive allergic medical conditions such as allergy rhinitis, hay fever, food allergy, asthma and eczema.
‘Eczema’ is a Greek word that means ‘boils’ and is used to describe rash that is red, dry, itchy that sometimes weeps, blisters or scales, crusts or thickens.
Patients with eczema experience symptoms such as
In Singapore, Eczema is one of the commonest inflammatory skin condition affecting one in five children and one in 10 adults. Atopic eczema affects both male and female equally.
Eczema is recognized by doctors or other trained health professionals during physical examination. Blood tests and skin tests are usually not required. Your doctor may offer swab test to look for any concurrent infections on the skin. In individual cases that the doctor is concern of allergens, allergy tests such as RAST test, skin prick test or patch test may be offered.
Most atopic eczema cases can be treated with moisturizers, medicated creams and ointments. The mainstay of treatment is regular use of moisturizer and washing with a moisturiser (rather than soap) to restore and maintain the skin barrier of affected people, so that the skin works as an effective barrier against external environment.
Your doctor may recommend you steroid creams or ointments to reduce the redness and itching of atopic eczema when the rashes are active. The creams and ointment comes in different doses and strengths, and your doctor will advise you on which to use, where and how long to use. Despite many negative connotations with steroid creams, when using appropriately, they are safe and effective for eczema rashes.
Antibiotics and use of antiseptic may be required on skin areas that are suggestive of infected. Antihistamine tablets are helpful in certain patients to calm the itch symptoms, and helps one to have a good night sleep
You are advised to avoid natural herbal creams as they can cause irritation and allergic reaction.
In more severe cases, your doctor may recommend you for other alternative treatment with the guidance of dermatologist specialist such as:
| Presenting Symptoms | Eczema | Psoriasis |
|---|---|---|
| Itch | More intense | Less severe |
| Appearance | Dry, Rough, Small blisters, Papules, Crusting | White thick scales |
| Location of rash | Skin folds and flexures Can occur over the neck, eyelid, face, wrist, hands and feet | Skin extensors of limbs Affects the scalp, buttock, umbilicus, lower back, abdomen and ear |
| Patient Demographics | Childhood and Adulthood | Generally occurs in adults |
Common environmental triggers include heat, humidity, dust mites allergies. Harsh irritants such as detergent, wash, soap, water are common causes of Eczema flare up as well.
You are encouraged to:
Checking the skin or nail lesion with wood lamp involves shining a hand-held wood lamp device on the area of concern by your physician.
Cryotherapy or colloquially known as ‘cold therapy’ is a procedure that uses liquid nitrogen to deliver freezing cold temperature locally to destroy and remove abnormal skin lesion.
Electrocautery is a bedside procedure where your doctor will use an ‘electric pen’ to deliver high frequency electric current onto the skin to generate heat in order to stop bleeding or remove abnormal skin cells
A steroid injection is simple bedside procedure where your doctor will inject minute amount of steroid onto the skin.
Skin cancer screening is usually performed by your physician using a dermatoscope. Dermatoscope is a medical magnifying glass that allows your physician to visualize the size and shape of the mole that you are concerned of.
Fungal scrape and bacterial culture tests allow physician to confirm or debunk fungal/bacterial diagnosis of skin condition
Skin tags are benign. They are also known as acrochordons medically. They are small, soft overgrowth of the skin commonly located among the face, eyelids neck, armpit, groin, breasts and buttock folds.
An excision biopsy is a bedside procedure where your doctor uses a surgical blade to remove the entire skin lesion under the use of local anaesthesia.
A shave biopsy a bedside procedure where your doctor uses a surgical superficial shaving blade to remove the skin lesion under the use of local anaesthesia.
A skin biopsy, or punch biopsy, is a bedside surgical procedure where your physician will use a small knife ‘puncher’ to obtain a small skin sample under local anaesthesia.
Herpes zoster, commonly referred to as shingles, is a painful blistering rash caused by the varicella-zoster virus— the same virus that causes chickenpox.
Seborrheic Dermatitis is a common chronic inflammatory condition of the skin. It is categorized as a type of chronic eczema, affecting the body area that has more sebaceous glands. characterized by red, greasy scaly patches.
Living in a hot humid climate of Singapore, fungal infection of the skin is common. The fungus thrives and favors body areas that are moist and warm such as the armpit, breast folds, groin, buttocks, feet, toes or even nails.
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition. It is a common skin disease that can affect 1 in 50 people.
Nearly 20% of people will get hives at some point in their lifetime. While they may not be life-threatening, hives can potentially cause both physical and emotional issues, particularly if they occur frequently.
Your body’s natural reaction to pokes, cuts, and trauma to your skin is to heal. On most occasions, skin injuries heal up without any problems.