How to recognize dry skin with an atopic tendency?
Dr. Valleteau de Moulliac,
Pediatric Consultant for Laboratoires Sarbec
If your baby has dry skin (known as cutaneous xerosis) beyond 3 weeks of age, this may be one of the symptoms of atopic dermatitis (atopic eczema).
Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that develops on a background of dry skin with repeated flare-ups and almost constant itching (scratching), mainly affecting infants and young children with a genetic predisposition: the atopic background, which also favors asthma and allergic rhinitis or conjunctivitis, but it is not an allergic disease. It is a disease of the skin barrier function.
Not all infants with dry skin have atopic dermatitis, but it should be considered when:
- There is a family history
- Around 3 months of age, sometimes earlier, lesions appear on the convex parts of the face especially, and on the body, consisting of red patches with small scales, microvesicles, often oozing and crusty, sometimes with coin-shaped spots on the trunk and limbs (nummular eczema)
- After age 2, these lesions are mainly seen in the flexural folds
- And especially when there is significant scratching, which is difficult to assess in young infants as it may only manifest as sleep disturbances or discomfort, irritability, sometimes anxiety (over 2 years old)
Your doctor will then assess whether or not additional tests are needed, but will prescribe the necessary treatments to restore the skin’s barrier function (emollients) and treat flare-ups (topical corticosteroids). They will also advise you on how to try to prevent these flare-ups.
This atopic dermatitis should improve as your child gets older, but it can also be the first step towards asthma or allergic rhinitis or conjunctivitis, though this is fortunately not always the case.
