The symptoms
The skin symptoms are usually symmetrical and dry skin is often accompanied by severe itching, which in patients leads to a craving for scratching. This, however, worsens the situation by causing weeping eczema. Depending on the age of the patient, different symptoms occur.
Atopic dermatitis in infancy is characterized by weeping and inflammatory eczema foci, especially on the face and head (“milk crust”). In 50% of the babies a spontaneous regression occurs. In childhood, there is often a coarsening of the field skin (skin of the palms of the hands and feet), a deep, weeping abrasion and dry skin.
All these symptoms occur in children mainly in the hollows of the knees, elbows, skin and foot joints, and on the neck. In adolescence and adulthood, chronic coarsening of the field skin with nodules occurs mainly on the face, neck, flexed sides of the arms and legs, and on the backs of the hands and feet.Wide characteristics of the neurodermatitis patients are a double eyelid crease (Dennie Morgan crease) and a paradoxical vascular reaction: In contrast to the healthy, the patients suffering from neurodermatitis do not develop red but white traces (white dermatographism) when scratching. There are also so-called minimal variants of neurodermatitis known.
For example, it is possible that the atopic eczema occurs only on the earlobe, eyelids and finger and toe tips. The itching is strongly in the foreground in neurodermatitis. Although the predilection sites, i.e. the place where the rash appears, differ between the different age groups, itching of the skin is always one of them.
This can also occur when the skin is only dry and not yet reddened. Sometimes the itching is so severe that the skin is scratched open with blood. Especially at night, when those affected can no longer consciously suppress the scratching stimulus, strong scratching attacks often occur, which worsens the skin condition and delays the healing of the skin areas. The itching can also promote skin infections, as it is easier for bacteria to penetrate scratched skin areas. Treatment of itching is therefore very important.
