You might have first noticed an itchy, red patch on your baby’s cheeks, chin, or chest that you scratched until it became even more irritated. Sound familiar? Or maybe you experienced something similar on your own neck, inner elbows, or behind your knees.

That is probably when you made an appointment with your doctor, who looked at it, talked to you about your symptoms, asked you questions about your family history and the types of products you use on your skin and in your home. Then your doctor told you it was eczema.

So what exactly is eczema? Who can get it and why? And what should you do, now that you or your child has been diagnosed?

Learning more about what kind of eczema you have and what may have triggered it, is the best starting point to treating and managing it, so that your eczema does not get in the way of your everyday life.

The good news is you have bought the right audiobook. I am here to help guide you - with all of the information you need - every step of the way

Eczema is the name for a group of conditions that cause the skin to become red, itchy and inflamed. There are several types of eczema: Atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, dyshidrotic eczema, nummular eczema, seborrheic dermatitis, and stasis dermatitis.

Eczema is very common. And in many cases, it is also manageable. In fact, over 30 million Americans have some form of eczema.

Living with eczema can be an ongoing challenge. The word “eczema” is derived from a Greek word meaning “to boil over”, which is a good description for the red, inflamed, itchy patches that occur during flare-ups. Eczema can range from mild, moderate, to severe.

It is most common for babies and children to develop eczema on their face (especially the cheeks and chin), but it can appear anywhere on the body and symptoms may be different from one child to the next. More often than not, eczema goes away as a child grows older, though some children will continue to experience eczema into adulthood.

Adults can develop eczema, too, even if they never had it as a child.

Eczema is not contagious. You can’t “catch it” from someone else. While the exact cause of eczema is unknown, researchers do know that people who develop eczema do so because of a combination of genes and environmental triggers. When an irritant or an allergen “switches on” the immune system, skin cells don’t behave as they should causing an eczema flare-up.