Itching All Over

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Sunburn is an inflammation of the skin that is caused by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. A similar burn can follow overexposure to a “sun” (tanning) lamp. UV radiation can also damage the eyes, although no surface burn is apparent.

Sunburn is a condition that takes place when the skin gets overexposed to the harmful ultraviolet rays. The major source of UV rays is the sun. Other sources include welding arcs and tanning lamps. Sunburns can adversely affect your health, therefore should not be ignored. They can even lead to a persons death. Fair people are at a higher risk of developing sunburns. Read further to explore more sunburns information.

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the US and exposure to the sun is the leading cause of skin cancer. Children often spend a good part of their day playing outdoors in the sun, especially during the summer. Children who have fair skin, moles, or freckles, or who have a family history of skin cancer, are more likely to develop skin cancer in later years. Exposure to the sun during daily activities and play causes the most sun damage. Overexposure to sunlight before age 18 is most damaging to the skin .

Sunburn causes:

Sunburn is caused by excessive exposure to the sun or other ultraviolet light source. Sunburn occurs because the body is unable to make enough melanin (protective pigment in the skin) to protect the skin. Sunburn may occur in less than 15 minutes of sun exposure for light-skinned persons while it may take hours for a dark-skinned person to develop a sunburn.

Travel to the southern United States, regions close to the equator, and places at high altitudes all offer the unwary visitor an opportunity to be injured by sunburn.

Some medications (such as the antibiotic doxycycline ) can make you more susceptible to sunburn.

Signs and Symptoms:

Initially, your skin turns red about 2-6 hours after exposure and feels irritated.

Flulike symptoms

Blistering – May range from a very fine blister that is only found when you begin to “peel” to very large water-filled blisters with red, tender, raw skin underneath

Skin peeling on sunburned areas several days after the sunburn.

Blisters that develop hours to days later.

In severe cases of sunburn, the victim may experience fever, nausea, chills, dizziness, rapid pulse, rapid breathing, shock, and loss of consciousness (sometimes called sun poisoning). Obviously, such symptoms require emergency treatment.

Diagnosis

A mild sunburn does not usually require a visit to the doctor. However, if you have any of the above symptoms, seek medical attention. The doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history, and perform a physical exam. For more severe cases of sun damage, you may be referred to a doctor who specializes in skin disorders (dermatologist). History of UVR exposure and sites of reaction on exposed areas.

Medications:

Aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen can help combat pain

Anesthetic creams or sprays containing benzocain and lidocain provide temporary relief

Antibacterial and antimicrobial soaps and antiseptics help prevent infection.

more posts of interest:

• Best Sunburn Homemade Cure
• Sunburns Diagnosis and Treatment
• How to Protect yourself From Sunburn Sunburn Treatment
• Sunburn – Causes, Symptoms ans Treatment
• Sunburn Treatments How to Prevent Sunburn?

Eczema is one of the most common skin disorders. Statistics suggest that amazingly one of every ten adults suffer from this skin condition. And the sad fact is that children are afflicted more by eczema. The occurrence can be as high as one in every five children. And childhood experience of eczema can be a very irritating one. The greater problem is that eczema often carries on to adulthood, upon exposure to the allergen in the environment. Although the pathology of eczema is not really known, it is understood that it has to be with some disorder in the immunity system. And as eczema is something of an allergy, it becomes important during eczema treatment that any exposure to the allergen be avoided.

In that sense, eczema is a chronic condition that one may have to live with. And it is more of a matter of precaution to prevent the flare-ups, the general symptom of eczema whereby the skin develops rashes. In infants, the eczema flare-ups have a preference for particular areas such as the forehead, cheeks, hands, and the areas where the skin is thinner and softer.

Lifestyle habits such as regular application of moisturisers and cleansers play an important role in eczema treatment. A regular regime ensures that you are able to keep eczema at bay. Such precautions, which include application of creams after bath as well as careful methods of hygiene, are essential to take care of your skin.

Moisturisers are important products to be used in eczema treatment. If the skin is moist, it is able to maintain its natural oil balance and is less irritable. If it does not itch, you are not likely to scratch, thereby wiping out chances of skin sores or scars. Of course, keeping your skin healthy also depends a lot on your diet.

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With due respect to all the great souls who had been and are still dedicating their lives to finding out an effective eczema treatment, it can be said that there is no effective treatment for the disease. All one can do is to stick to the basic principles of managing any type of eczema. These principles are prescribed by dermatologists and are effective in eczema management, though not fruitful in treating and curing it fully.

The first principle to be followed for successful eczema treatment is to avoid contact with irritants. Eczema is basically an allergic condition. So, the more one keeps away from irritants, the better it is. Sometimes, identifying irritants can be difficult. Usually, a practical approach has to be used where there the irritants are obvious. In case the irritants are not obvious, common sense should be used.

Another useful way of avoiding irritants is to use creams regularly and sensibly. One can still make use of protective gloves or other forms of avoidance strategy, if irritants are hard to identify or to eliminate from the environment. The next important way of managing eczema is regular use of emollients. All the dermatologists are of the opinion that regular use of emollients is very important for successful eczema treatment.

The third step in eczema management is appropriate use of anti-inflammatory treatments (steroids and new immunomodulators). Another important thing in eczema treatment is regular bath taking. The idea is to keep the affected area moist. Since itching is the most irritating and disturbing thing in eczema, one should focus on keeping the place moist. If the place remains dry, it becomes more irritable and itchy.

Eczema treatment is time-consuming, can be messy and, in more severe cases, it needs application of emollients relentlessly to avoid relapse. Unlike some medical conditions, you do not have pills to swallow and keep eczema away. In fact, eczema is a troublesome condition, and not just because of the irritation and sleep disturbance; it can be caused by itchy skin too. So, it needs a long, sustained effort to be managed properly.

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• The Dos and Donts of Eczema Treatment
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What is Psoriasis?

Psoriasis is red, flaky scaling of the skin. In Layman’s terms it is dry skin. It can be mild, moderate or severe but either way it is annoying, ugly and irritating. There are different types of psoriasis such as Plaque, Pustular, Guttate, and Inverse.

Plaque is the most common type. It is diagnosed by its raised red dots on the skin covered in white flakes of skin. Any of the 4 types of psoriasis can show up on any part of the body however, it is most commonly seen on the scalp, elbows, knees, hands and feet. It can also be found on the genitals and finger or toe nails.

Who Gets It?

Anyone can get psoriasis. No, it is not contagious; it is a chronic genetic disorder. There are no blood tests or scans that can be done to diagnose this disease. It is simply diagnosed by looking at the affected area. Each of the four types have different characteristics and any dermatologist can take a look for you and tell you what type you may or may not have.

What Causes It To Spread?

Psoriasis doesn’t always need a reason to spread throughout the body but there are certain things that do trigger it to become inflamed. Stress seems to be a good way to have your psoriasis become active as does wounds to the skin such as tattoos, cuts, shaving and so on. There has been talk that climate may have a part in the condition of the psoriasis. Colder weather is said to trigger it while sunny weather is said to be of help in relieving it.

What Does It Feel Like?

Well, it feels just like dry skin. What does it feel like to have it? It is annoying, itchy and can sometimes hurt. In some occasions it can crack and bleed depending on the severity. Arthritis is also known to come hand in hand with having psoriasis.

Is There A Cure For It?

There is no cure for psoriasis, but there are treatments for it. Again, depending on the severity, there are many options for treating someone who has this disease.

Over-the-Counter:

There are many over the counter creams and such for this. In my experience, not many of them work. One of the only things I would recommend would be a scalp shampoo such as T Gel. T Gel is a medicated shampoo that helps to relieve irritation and flaking.

Prescribed Medications:

There are also many different medications that can be prescribed for psoriasis. Certain creams such as Psorcon works very well. It is a topical cream that generally works within a few days to a week.

For more severe cases, there is a steroid that can be prescribed by a doctor. These steroids come in the form of pills and are taken orally. Most prescriptions are for a weeks’ worth of taking it or more. They work quite well but can have side affects such as weight gain. No, they are not like typical steroids that may be taken by athletes.

The newest treatment now on the market is an injection. There are about four different types of these injections, and are supposed to work quite well. I, myself, have considered this option but have not yet gotten around to trying it.

For more information or treatment, please check out some Web sites included in this article as psoriasis resources.

Psoriasis resources:

http://www.superlanolin.com/ps oriasis/picture-of-psoriasis-1 .html

http://www.diseasedirectory.ne t/Skin_Disorders/Psoriasis/def ault.aspx

http://www.psoriasis.org/home/ – The National Psoriasis Foundation

http://www.psoriasis-associati on.org.uk/ – Psoriasis Association in UK

http://www.psoriasis.org.au/ – Psoriasis Association in Australia

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• Psoriasis Treatment & How To Deal With The Illness
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Dermatoscopy (also known by some as dermoscopy or epiluminescence microscopy) is the word which describes the study and examination of the skin using a dermatoscope.

Dermoscopes, or dermatoscopes, are useful tools used by skin doctor to help with examining the skin. It is a non invasive hand-held magnification tool, much like a magnifying glass, with a light source attached. It is straightly placed on the skin surface of the patient to analyze the key morphological structures of skin wounds that are on and below the surface of skin that are not easily seeable by the naked eye. It provides direct showing and analyze of the epidermis and papillary dermis. This uncluttered view of the skin can help with diagnosing skin cancers, especially melanomas and differentiating melanoma skin cancer from moles or more benign pigmented nevi.

Use of a dermatoscope

While dermatoscopes were primitively invented for use in the diagnosing of malignant melanoma skin cancer, they can be used for showing and diagnosis many skin diseases. Modified dermatoscopes are speedily becoming a standard in hair research. Dermatoscopes captured hair Images, and even just modified digital cameras with optical attachments, can be processed using peculiar software to count hair denseness, diameter, and hair growth rates. Dermatoscopes can be used for a close scrutiny of many skin diseases including xeroderma pigmentosum, folliculitis, scar tissue and vascular supply, dermatofibroma, lentigo maligna, and a variety of nevi.

Dermatoscope applications

It is especially useful in the diagnosing of malignant melanoma. In this case, a dermatologist may need a close up view of the skin to differentiate a melanoma cancer from a benign mole. While melanoma diagnosing is the most common use for a dermatoscope, dermatoscopes may also be useful for many other diagnoses as well. Studies have been brought out that use dermatoscopes to valuate capillaries in the skin and finger nail beds and to study patterns of hair follicles and their denseness. They have also been used to analyze conditions including pityriasis rosea, spitz nevus, actinic keratosis, and even the consequences of drugs such as steroid atrophy evaluation.

Its a dermatoscope not a dermoscope!

While most dermatologists use the words dermoscope and dermoscopy when explaining the study of the skin using a magnifying tool the correct words are actually dermatoscopic, dermatoscope and also dermatoscopy. Just to emphasize that the examination of the skin is called dermatology and not dermology! The word form beginning with dermat- or dermato- combines the stem of the Greek word derma, meaning skin, or dermatos, of the skin. Therefore dermatoscopy is the study of the skin with a magnifying device a dermatoscope.

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