Atopic skin
Now that temperatures are on the rise, we need to pay special attention to our skin, as the heat often causes the body to become more dehydrated, which of course also affects the skin.
The sun causes part of our body’s moisture to evaporate, mainly resulting in symptoms such as dryness, itching and more sensitive skin.
Not all sensitive skin is atopic, although atopic skin is often part of various related terms, which can cause confusion. Atopic dermatitis and skin hyperreactivity (sensitive skin) are separate entities, however their symptoms may overlap.
¿What is atopic skin?
It is true that there is an association between atopic skin and sensitive or intolerant skin. It is a skin type that that does not fully tolerate the use of topical or cosmetic substances, in most cases due to an underlying skin condition. The most common examples of these are rosacea and couperose, atopic or seborrheic dermatitis and contact eczema.
However, atopic skin is more often associated with atopic dermatitis, also known as atopic eczema.
- This is a chronic inflammatory pathology of the skin, which is usually more common in children and improves with age. Nonetheless, symptoms can also appear in adults (3–10 % of the population). In both cases, the condition is benign and non-contagious.
- Occurrence of the condition is constantly increasing due to the high concentration of allergenic substances in skin products.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms usually appear in outbreaks and can become worse with stress, cold weather or sweating. The main symptoms are:
- Dry skin (xerosis).
- Itching (pruritus).
- Eczema: the skin may appear inflamed, red or flaky. Blisters or vesicles will often form in children. In adults, it is more common for the lesions to cause the skin to thicken (lichenification), a symptom which can become chronic.
Why does it happen?
The exact cause is unknown, although factors involved are genetics (family predisposition), the environment and the immune system.
These symptoms cause an allergic reaction in response to a substance in contact with the skin.
What is the best treatment?
The main symptom is pruritus. We essentially need to take into account the fact that atopic dermatitis patients have drier, more irritable skin than usual. This is why they need care using non-irritant, hypoallergenic products with a soothing effect.
Outbreaks are typically treated with moisturising emollients. However, moderate to serious cases may need topical/oral corticoids and antihistamines.
Our recommendations:
- Cleanse with gentle products and warm water. Long, hot baths could irritate the skin.
- Hydrate your skin daily with moisturisers (emollients).
- Avoid products that could irritate your skin and check that the products you use are hypoallergenic and adapted to your skin’s phototype.
- Avoid changes of temperature: excess heat and sudden temperature changes can cause dryness and trigger outbreaks. We recommend a temperature of 20–21°C.
