春天悄然來到，又是濕疹肆虐的季節。濕疹可以分為急性及慢性兩種，例如嬰兒患上的多屬前者。為何會有急性濕疹？天氣轉變、接觸到刺激性物質如天拿水或者曬過太陽也會引致急性濕疹。又例如小朋友患濕疹也可能只是因為免疫系统未成熟而引致的。

而成人及遷延多年不癒者則屬慢性濕疹。假如濕疹只是短暫性出現，那便不需要過分担心。但若果情況持績3至6個月，則不會單單是皮膚的問題，需要深入研究。

慣常的治療一般都是外用葯物，如類固醇；也有是洗澡用的(啡色或綠色的清洗液)。治理皮膚除了外用，也有一些是內服的，如Piriton等敏感藥物。通常醫生不論處方甚麼药物，都是針對皮膚的某個位置。而通常涉及的就是皮膚或皮膚以下的真皮。

除了外用類固醇，亦有處方滋潤皮膚的藥膏，例如花士靈或在藥房都可買得到的水份膏(aqueous cream)。有些小朋友因不能長期使用類因醇，因此醫生便會開一些不含類固醇的消炎藥。最近有報告顯示有些藥不能使用超過兩個月，因時間太長可能會致癌。另外，口服藥物也不外是抗生素、抗敏藥及較嚴重者會使用口服類固醇。例如年幼的患者，假如是全身性的濕疹，就必須服藥，用温和的類固醇。而假如患處是摺位，就不能用太重的類固醇；假如是腳底，則要用油性的藥膏。總而言之，皮膚愈厚，就要用藥性愈強的膏，而年紀愈輕，則用藥性愈温和的膏。



類固醇一般不能使用超過兩個月，而且是需要減量的。那麽大家可能會問：如果情況持續超過兩個月怎辦？若不能再使用外用類固醇，便要轉用非類固醇或口服藥物，然而，重覆轉換藥物，始終沒有把問題解決。

慢性濕疹非常頑固，而且很多時患者罹患十年以上都未能找到病因，大家有沒有想過，身體有害元素堆積會是濕疹成因之一，要消滅濕疹，或許要從清腸開始。 眾所周知，濕疹除了家族遺傳、皮膚結構因素外，還可能是免疫系統出問題所致，可是究竟什麼東西觸發了免疫系統﹖答案就是有害元素。有害元素可包括重金屬、食物添加劑、農藥、有機化合物及發泡膠等等，它們會令腸道產生炎症，形成「腸漏」(Leaky gut)。 正常的腸道有如一條萬里長城，它的作用是消化、吸收及排泄。它有一個很重要的功能是令未有完全消化或沒有用的東西不要進入我們的血液而擾亂免疫系统。但這「腸漏症」就是假如身體內有炎症或 存在，那麼細胞與細胞之間的連接位便會斷姴了。那些沒有完全消化的蛋白質便會進入了身體，繼而擾亂了免疫系統。此時，腸道會分泌大量細胞激素(cytokines)刺激免疫糸統，繼而產生敏感和免疫系統疾病，從而在身體各處顯現出來，在皮膚可成為濕疹，但亦有可能有其他的徵狀如疲倦、失眠及精神不集中等，估計有1/3慢性濕疹患者都屬此類情況。由於腸胃亂了，益生菌亦會減少，問題便繼續蔓延。

Spring, an eczema-ravaging season, quietly comes. Eczema can be divided into acute and chronic forms, such as the one that babies usually suffer from is mostly the former. Why are there acute eczema? Weather changes, exposure to irritating substances such as thinners and sunshine can cause acute eczema. Another example is that children suffering from eczema may also be just due to immature immune systems.

The one that adults have suffered from and persistent unhealed one for many years belong to chronic eczema. If the eczema appears only temporarily, patients do not need to worry too much about that. However, if the case sustains for 3-6 months, it is not just the skin problem and requires further investigation.

The usual treatments are generally topical drugs, such as steroids; There are also bath gel (brown or green cleaning fluid) used. In addition to topical treatment, some allergy drugs are taken orally, such as Piriton. No matter what drugs doctors usually prescribe to eczematous patients, they are directed to the somewhere on the skin, in which the uppermost skin layer or the dermis underneath are usually involved.

In addition to topical steroids, there are some skin-moisturizing creams, such as Vaseline or aqueous cream which can be bought at pharmacy stores. Because some children cannot use steroid in a long run, doctors will prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. Recent reports indicate that some drugs cannot be used for more than two months, because they may be carcinogenic upon prolonged use. Besides, the oral drug is actually antibiotics, anti-allergy medicines and, in less severe cases, oral steroids. Take young patients as examples, if it is systemic eczema, oral medication is a must, with a mild steroid. And if the affected area is folded position, steroids cannot be used too heavily; if it is on foot, then oily creams can be used. All in all, the thicker the skin, the stronger the cream is used. But, the younger the age, the milder the cream is used.

Steroids should not be used for more than two months and reduction of dosage is needed. So you might ask: If the situation persists for more than two months, what should I do? Without the use of topical steroids again, they have to switch to non-steroidal or oral medications. Yet, repeated interchanges of drugs cannot solve the problem.

Chronic eczema is very stubborn, and many patients suffering from this problem for more than a decade still haven’t found the underlying cause. Have you ever thought about that the accumulation of toxins in the body would be one of the causes of eczema? To eliminate eczema, perhaps rinsing the bowel is a good to start.

As we all know, apart from hereditary eczema and skin structure factors, immune system malfunction may also be the cause. But what trigger of the immune system malfunction exactly is? The answer is harmful elements. Harmful elements may include heavy metals, food additives, pesticides, organic compounds and Styrofoam which can produce intestinal inflammation leading to the formation of ‘leaky gut’.

Normal gut is like the ‘Great Wall’, its roles are digestion, absorption and excretion. Also, it has a very important function that doesn’t allow incompletely digested or useless particles to enter our bloodstream and disrupt our immune system. But this ‘leaky gut syndrome’ is, if there is inflammation or harmful elements exist in the body, the connections between intestinal cells will be broken. Those proteins have not been fully digested will enter the body, and then disrupt the immune system. At this point, a lot of cytokines are released from the gut to stimulate the immune system, which produces allergy and immune system diseases. The symptoms will then manifest throughout the body, including eczema on skin and other symptoms such as fatigue, insomnia and lack of concentration, etc. An estimate of 1/3 of patients with chronic eczema belong to this class of reactions. Because of gastrointestinal disorder, probiotics population will reduce and the problem will continue to spread.



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