Neurodermatitis: causes, symptoms and treatment

Neurodermatitis is a condition also often called “lichen simplex chronicus“. It’s a condition that compromises your skin health. Although it isn’t contagious, it causes great discomfort for many who suffer from it.

To be more precise, it causes severe itching, which motivates the person to scratch consistently, thus causing skin damage and increasing itching and discomfort. In this manner, the skin is broken, along with increased itching and discomfort. What are the causes? How is it treated? In the next article, we’ll share all the main points with you.

What’s neurodermatitis?

As stated by Mayo Clinic, neurodermatitis is a skin disease that manifests itself as an itchy spot. Since it causes the person to scratch consistently, the skin tends to dry out, in addition to turn out to be thick and leathery.

Scratching increases the itching, which becomes a vicious circle. As well as, because it progresses, increasingly spots appear everywhere in the body. Essentially the most frequent locations are the neck, wrists, and ankles.

Research suggests that this condition tends to seem in people under stress or emotional tension. Itching is a type of somatization of this stress.

When scratching, people affected by neurodermatitis feel a way of relief, which reduces a number of the emotional tension.

The indisputable fact that the skin becomes irritated makes scratching increasingly crucial. Due to this fact, it’s sometimes difficult to differentiate whether the cause in the primary instance was nervousness. This pathology is more common in adults than in children. Even so, it might probably be the consequence of a nervous tic, which might appear at any age.

What are its causes?

The precise reason behind neurodermatitis continues to be unknown. Nonetheless, as detailed in a publication in Acta Dermato-Venereologica, there are several risk aspects related to its appearance. Some of the relevant is stress, as its prevalence is higher amongst individuals with stressful and competitive lifestyles.

It has also been identified more usually in the next cases:

• People between 30 and 50 years of age
• Patients with a history of atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, or asthma
• Women, with a ratio of two to 1 in comparison with men
• Asians

In some cases, there are triggering situations. For instance, an insect bite, wearing rough clothing, or having dry skin. It has also been related to chronic skin diseases, reminiscent of psoriasis.

Principal symptoms of neurodermatitis

Neurodermatitis is more common in adults. Itching often appears on the nape of the neck, wrists, ankles, or genitals. It might occur anywhere on the body.

The primary symptom will likely be a number of itchy patches on the skin. Because the patient scratches, the skin takes on a more scaly or leathery texture. The itching could also be continuous or may appear at times of stress or at night.

There comes a time when many individuals scratch out of habit. This causes the patches to turn out to be larger and bigger, darker in color than the remaining of the skin. Sometimes, wounds appear from the scratching itself.

Neurodermatitis can subsequently result in serious complications. Most frequently the lesions leave everlasting scars. As well as, the injuries can turn out to be infected. Similarly, the people often sleep poorly and their sex life is commonly impaired.

How is it diagnosed?

The diagnosis of neurodermatitis will be complex. It’s easy to watch the lesions and determine if the skin has been injured by scratching. Nonetheless, it’s essential to rule out every other possible cause before determining this diagnosis.

Sometimes, it’s crucial to do complementary tests or try different treatments. For instance, in some cases, skin biopsies are performed. This can be a test that consists of taking a small skin sample and analyzing it within the laboratory.

This will be used to envision if the actual cause is psoriasis, because it’s a disease that may appear in an analogous way. It might also be useful to seek the advice of a psychologist, to attempt to make clear if there’s any underlying psychological disorder, reminiscent of anxiety.

Treatments for neurodermatitis

The treatment of neurodermatitis is complex and includes many alternative options. The primary is to forestall the person from scratching. To do that, different itch-relieving creams will be tried, reminiscent of Adventan ® or Positon ®.

In some cases, it could be advisable to make use of oral antihistamines. It’s because histamine is the substance most related to itching. As well as, a few of them produce drowsiness, which might improve these people’s sleep quality.

Alternatively, there are those that can profit from anxiolytic drugs, reminiscent of benzodiazepines. These are drugs that help to scale back anxiety and likewise to rest higher. Nonetheless, they must be used with caution, as they’ve many negative effects. For instance, they will create dependency.

The reality is that some of the useful features of treating neurodermatitis is psychotherapy. Talking to a specialist will help reduce stress or can teach the patient the right way to prevent or avoid certain behaviors, reminiscent of excessive scratching.

Remedies for neurodermatitis

Neurodermatitis will be improved or alleviated by quite a lot of easy measures at home. With a purpose to try to forestall scratching, it’s beneficial to use cold, wet compresses to the skin for a number of minutes. Above all, you must do that before applying any ointment, because it improves its absorption.

It might also be useful to include a spoonful of oatmeal in such a compress. In line with a review shared in Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology, this ingredient has antioxidant and anti inflammatory properties that help soothe itching, dermatitis, and rashes.

Other measures include the next:

• Cover essentially the most affected areas to avoid scratching and complications of the lesion.
• Keep the skin clean and moisturized. Mild emollients reminiscent of petroleum jelly are quite helpful.
• Don’t have hot showers, as they worsen dryness.
• Keep nails short and filed.

Neurodermatitis has a psychological component

Most cases of neurodermatitis occur in people who find themselves nervous or under stressful situations. It has been found that the lesions often come from nervous scratching, which will be prevented by controlling such anxiety.

It’s essential to attempt to avoid the triggers that produce it. Hence, the support of a psychologist is beneficial to learn the right way to manage the emotions and behaviors related to scratching. Reinforcing skincare can be essential.

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