Beyond the Itch: The Inner Workings of an Eczema Flare

炎症是这个具有挑战性的sk的根源in condition. Learn more about the way your immune system’s response triggers a series of events that leads to eczema symptoms, plus which medications work best to treat an eczema flare.

When your eczema is flaring, the only thing you're probably thinking about is finding relief for the unbearable itch and burning sensation. But understanding the mechanisms behind your inflammatory skin condition and what's really driving that awful itch can help you know how to manage it better. Here, we'll explore the inner workings of an eczema flare. What's going on in your cells and why that plays out on skin surface in the form of dry red and itchy patches. Plus, we'll look at how medications and treatments work to calm the skin down. Eczema is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that affects both children and adults. Some children outgrow it. For others, it's a lifelong issue. Eczema is thought to be caused by genetic and environmental factors. If you're prone to eczema, you're likely to have a weak skin barrier, the outermost layer that helps lock moisture into the skin and keep irritants and allergens out. What causes this weak barrier? A deficiency in Filaggrin, a protein that helps keratin fibers on the skin surface stick together, forming a solid barrier. That weaker, drier, more permeable skin is also more vulnerable to allergens, irritants and bacteria. So, let's talk about when those irritants and allergens get into your skin. Your skin has protective cells called Langerhans cells that act like guards. They sense trouble - say an allergen, and alert your immune system's T-cells of its presence. The T-cells then produce T-helper cells, or T-H for short, that trigger the production of immune proteins called cytokines, which lead to the inflammatory response you see on your skin. Now you're stuck with what's known as the itch-scratch cycle. Your skin is inflamed and itchy. So, you scratch it, sometimes until it bleeds. The barrier is further compromised and more vulnerable, triggering an immune response that leads to more inflammation and ultimately more itching. How do you break the cycle? That's where treatments and medications come into play. The first line of defense is usually your creams and ointments, topical steroids and inhibitors. These suppress inflammation, avoiding an immune response. However, they're nonspecific, which means they affect all your cells, not just those involved in eczema. So they may have side effects when used for long periods. The FDA recently approved a topical Janus Kinase or JAK inhibitor for mild to moderate eczema. It can be used in conjunction with topical steroids during a flare. Two oral JAK inhibitors have also gained recent FDA approval for eczema. Both the topical medication and the oral versions target some of those key proteins involved in the inflammatory response. Injectable biologic drugs have also been a significant breakthrough for eczema. Made of monoclonal antibodies, these drugs target specific cytokines. Before the newer biologics, immunosuppressants, including methotrexate and cyclosporine, were used to dial down eczema symptoms. But, they increase your risk of infection and can cause kidney and liver damage. Because of this, doctors favor a more targeted approach whenever possible. Disrupting the inflammatory cycle involved in eczema is the key to getting and keeping your skin calm. And that will get easier as we continue to see more targeted drugs that hone in on specific proteins involved in the inflammatory process. For now, we're just scratching the surface