eczpert

Eczema is very common but a condition which is far from simple to deal with. Although most people are familiar with its signs and symptoms, many are less familiar with the other aspects reviewed in this tutorial, including its incidence, pathology, causes, natural history and impact on the patient.

Although atopic eczema is the most commonly seen type, there are several other forms of eczema and closely related conditions. This tutorial will help you to become more familiar with these and how each is differentiated from atopic eczema.

Eczema accounts for nearly one third of all skin consultations in general practice, but there are many other common skin conditions often seen in primary care which you will need to be able to recognise. This tutorial provides an outline of the most important of these, together with pointers to differentiating them from eczema.

The recently issued NICE and British Association of Dermatology (BAD) guidelines for the treatment of eczema have many implications for healthcare teams caring for people with eczema, and will affect the treatments prescribed and the support you give. This tutorial looks at the impact of the guidelines and suggests ways you can implement their recommendations.

Emollients are the cornerstone of the treatment of eczema but many people are still not using them correctly, nor being prescribed them in sufficient quantities. This tutorial explores how emollients work and gives practical guidance on helping people to use them effectively alongside topical steroids and other forms of therapy.

However well controlled eczema is, as a chronic condition people will need help and support to deal with it in the long term. This tutorial provides information about how you can help people to manage their own long term treatment, with an overview of alternative approaches for those inadequately controlled by standard therapy.

Conducting a Medicines Use Review (MUR) in patients who have eczema can have a positive influence on how they use their emollient and steroid therapies. By helping them to improve their self-management strategy, you can positively influence how they control their eczema. This section will help you to identify scenarios when you should conduct an MUR in eczema patients. It will also provide you with management tips that you can relay to the person during the review.

The better people with eczema understand their condition and its treatment, the better they will be able to cope with it and the better they will work with you in its management. This tutorial discusses the importance of educating people about the disease, its treatment and what they should expect from it.

There are many old wives' tales about eczema, most of them potentially harmful for anyone who believes them. This tutorial explores the importance of clearing up misconceptions, and providing the reassurance that will encourage treatment confidence. It also discusses the importance of tailoring your communication approach to the culture, education and language skills of individuals.

For children with eczema the potential problems are magnified by their limited ability to understand what is happening to them. Their obvious distress puts a huge emotional and practical burden on their parents and carers, who will also need help and support. This tutorial will help you give them practical advice on how they can best help their child, and advise them about other sources of help and advice.

In common with many other allergic conditions, eczema can be sparked off by a very wide range of trigger factors. This tutorial looks at some of those commonly implicated in atopic eczema and gives practical suggestions for avoiding them or minimising their impact when avoidance is not possible.

Anything which stops us sleeping causes a lot of distress. For people with eczema, itching can disrupt sleep so badly that it can profoundly affect their day to day functioning. And it's not just the person with eczema who is affected, as any parent of a child kept awake by eczema will tell you. This tutorial offers practical suggestions for managing sleep disruption.