General Health Information

Determining whether a skin condition is a form of eczema or psoriasis can be quite complicated. In order to determine the best treatment, you have to first determine which ailment you have. One condition you may have is called seborrhea eczema. This condition results in flaky skin as does psoriasis. This condition can often be misdiagnosed as simple dandruff.

Dandruff is caused by an overly dry scalp. As you probably know, there are many shampoos on the market that help to reduce the irritation of common dandruff. The active ingredient in these shampoos is most likely selenium. Although this may do wonders for common dandruff, a more specific treatment may be needed for skin conditions that are diagnosed as seborrhea eczema or psoriasis.

A typical form of seborrhea is known as “cradle cap”. The more specific treatments for seborrhea eczema may require periodic anti-yeast or anti-fungal medications, as well as the application of selenium and other dandruff treatments. Seborrhea eczema is believed to be caused by the yeast Pityrosporum.

Psoriasis

Eczema or psoriasis are both skin conditions, however, the cause of psoriasis is thought to be the bodies own autoimmune pathway. Excess skin is produced when the body adversely reacts to disease or other bodily ailments. The disease or body ailment effect the normal skin and this causes the base condition of psoriasis. These flakes can then build up and form a plaque that can be unsightly and in some instances life altering.

The treatments for many forms of psoriasis include sedatives and other mood agents to assist in coping with the disease that may be sufficiently troubling. Psoriasis is considered a chronic ailment and there is even a form of arthritis that may result. The lifestyle impacts created by psoriasis are a further difference between the impacts of eczema or psoriasis.

Dermatitis and atopic dermatitis are the two most common forms of eczema. One reason that is often postulated is that the two illnesses have different immune failure pathways, and, therefore, are unlikely to occur together even though eczema or psoriasis conditions can be very similar. The incidence of the two most common forms of eczema is greatly reduced with psoriasis patients.

Psoriasis has a very well documented and distinct look about it for most cases, psoriatic lesions have well defined borders and the surface of a psoriatic lesion has silvery scales that easily flake off. The other distinctive feature is the skin under the scales has a shiny red appearance.

There are other diseases that are similar such as scabies, fungal and yeast infections, manifestations of syphilis and cutaneous examples of lymphoma. Understanding whether your condition is an eczema or psoriasis is accomplished by a practicing licensed medical provider. Once you get the correct diagnosis, you can be well on your way to the proper treatment.

For more information, please visit: Eczema Info