The treatments are for hydrating the skin, reduce inflammation, decrease the risk of infection, and ease down the itchy feeling. Doctors use emollients to relieve dry skin, compresses (cold) to relieve the itch, corticosteroids for inflammation reduction, and sometimes sedative antihistamines to help the patient sleep. It seals the skin s own moisture, thus preventing dryness and cracking. Apply moisturizers right after bathing. In bathing, try not to irritate the afflicted skin areas. Avoid skin irritants Every eczema victim has a particular outside irritant or irritants. There s a whole line-up of materials that can irritate the skin laundry detergents, soaps, perfumes, cleaners, wool, animal fur, petroleum products, long contact with water, paints the list is long. Aside from physical and emotional causes, the problem can also be caused by genetic factors. This problem is an itch that when scratched, it will develop into rash. The solution to the problem is to make sure that the sufferer won t scratch or at least, avoid scratching the affected parts. It comes in severe forms when the condition is developed during infancy. In addition, these blisters may break and the skin may flake and crack later. Long exposure In long-term exposures, the skin becomes thick, red and scaly. More than that period and the skin darkens and becomes leathery. Things get worse once irritant contact dermatitis has developed. Exposure or contacts with even mild substances (baby shampoo or even water) can irritate the skin and make the condition real bad. Prevalence Based on the latest findings, atopic eczema is increasing and presently afflicts around 9 to 30% of the population in the U.S. The disease is common in young children and infants. Most infants, thankfully, outgrow the illness around their second birthday. However, there are some people who carry the symptoms of eczema all throughout their lives, although they usually are on a recurring basis. One example perhaps is the atopic eczema, which is a very common allergic reaction; the discoid eczema, which often lead to dry rash and lesions; and the venous eczema, which often results to scaling, redness and darkening of the skin because of the scars. For these forms of eczema, more aggressive treatment is usually used.