When the skin become red, inflamed and painful, you may have a condition known as eczema. Eczema actually occurs the most often in infants and young children. If doctors are unable to cure infant eczema, the condition may stay with you throughout the duration of your lifetime.

Many people think that eczema is an allergic reaction, others think that is indicated a problem with the immune system. Despite whatever scientists are arguing over, eczema can be an embarrassing problem for many people. For no reason, the skin can suddenly become red, scaly, and painful. Eczema is reactive to your mood, if you become upset, the condition may worsen. It is also reactive to things like lotions, soaps, medications, and jewelry. You might also contract eczema if you recently moved from a dry climate to a humid one.

The frustration most people have with eczema is that it is a reoccurring condition they will have to battle throughout the course of their lifetime. People that deal with eczema often have different symptoms from one another and they often are hard to diagnose as eczema because they can be tied to another condition like slap-face or fifth disease.

Usually eczema can be treated with cortisone cream and other ointments. If the condition gets worse to the extent that your skin starts to crack and bleed or you have some blisters that begin to ooze, it is time to seek medical treatment for your condition. Another downside to eczema is that the skin is often highly reactive to lotions, so it is hard to keep the skin moist and soft, giving your skin the appearance of rough, crusty looking skin.

 Eczema can happen anywhere but for some reason it tends to impact the areas of the skin that are visible like the face, neck, and arms. Depending upon the severity of your eczema, you may only have the red rash look for a couple hours or it can last for a few days.

Not only will the skin start to become red, hot, and intense burning, it also becomes extremely itchy. Do not scratch the skin, this will worsen the condition. It is usually better to leave the skin alone and do nothing about it because it will self-heal over time. However, some people have extreme conditions that need treatment before it worsens to open lesions.

Doctors often recommend that their patients drink plenty of water to keep the skin moist. It also helps to use non-scented, non-allergenic lotion on the skin daily. Name-brand lotions like Keri are recommended for individuals with eczema.

If you have a mild condition that looks similar to slap-face, you can use over-the-counter allergy medications like Zyrtec or Benadryl to help minimize the itching and burning. Apply cortisone cream on the area twice daily or as many times and the bottle states. If this does not heal your condition within a couple days, speak to your doctor about oral medications that can help control eczema. In extreme conditions you may need to take Prednisone, an oral corticosteroid. This drug is dangerous and not recommended fro everyone, just the patients that have extreme cases of eczema.

Many people have having success curing their eczema through the use of phototherapy. This is when you use ultraviolet light to treat your condition. Using a "natural light lamp" is a great way to help your body receive the proper amount of Vitamin D it needs daily and this can help to reduce the effects of eczema. Infants that have a condition known as jaundice often need to sit under ultraviolet lights to cure their condition. These lights are blue in color and can come in the form of a blanket or a lamp.