Talk:Atopic dermatitis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cause[sic] and Cure[sic]

Atopic Eczema DOES have a definite cause (lectin) but also has many mitigating factors which are often misidentified as "causes". Millions of people don't take the precautions bellow yet don't have Eczema - suggesting that eczema is not caused by not following them:

  • Keep your skin well hydrated. If the skin is dry apply cortisone creams or petrolatum emollient. The use of oil baths can also be beneficial.
  • Try to avoid the use of soaps. The soaps irritated and dry the skin. When you´re washing, use only water.
  • Limit the use of soap to the axillaries, genital area, and feet. Soup substitutes can be used-without detergent. If you must wash your hands frequently you clarify thoroughly after washing them and then apply a small amount of hydrocortisone cream.
  • Avoid excessive heat. Most dermatitis patients show that heat and sweat worsen their eczema. You should use fresh clothes and be in air conditioning.
  • Avoid direct contact with wool and heavy clothing.
  • Avoid anything that you think will aggravate eczema, if you notice any kind of perfume, cream, makeup because itching or irritation will not use them.
  • Try to get used to using a routine treatment, applying hydrocortisone creams can be done safely for long time. You should try to apply powerful steroid creams only occasionally.
  • The use of antihistamines with sedative effect and tranquilizer is often useful in the treatment of atopic dermatitis, psychotherapy however not generally useful. Medications that reduce the itching can make it easier for patients to normal life.

Atopic Eczema also has a definite cure. It is one that involves a temporary lifestyle (dietary) change. Just because the cure isn't a cream, a drink or a few pills doesn't mean that it cannot be THE CURE. Logic would define that the cure to a non congenital disease would involve a reversal, removal or some sort of antagonistic action against the Cause.
Laoseb97 (talk) 15:02, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

Lectins are currently listed as the cause for atopic dermatitis and not eating them is listed as the cure, both without any source. I'm guessing you're the one who edited that in. Since you must have found this out somewhere, adding your sources shouldn't be too hard. Triougd (talk) 20:24, 13 May 2013 (UTC)
So dont pop the blister 2600:387:16:233:0:0:0:5 (talk) 05:14, 22 June 2025 (UTC)

@ Triougd: "Adding your sources shouldn't be too hard." IMHO it is. This is mainly because I didn't get the information from only one source- making it hard give a better citation. The majoriy of the things that I have edited in, have come from the sources that I have already given and the hyperlinks to other wikipedia pages. My edits to this article are basically the results of weeding through the web and are the bigger picture from all the sources.
Here are some half-misleading (Flawed) external sources I came across along the way that contribute as deductive evidence (with notable qoutes).

  • "4. Eczema can be reversed by changing the diet you are eating." - http://eczema-natural-healing.com/eczema-diet.html
  • "I ask her whether my eczema is curable and she told me “NO”, it’s in my genes. She diagnosed my eczema as skin asthma!!!! I just simply refused to accept that and went on to research on an alternative natural cure. Like you, I believe that my system is full of toxin and I am finding ways and cheaper means (as I am only an employee) to clean my system." - http://eczemacure.info/2008/02/14/michele-ang-cures-herself-of-eczema-which-manifested-on-her-arm-and-leg-2/
  • "...lectins damage the walls of your intestines, helping to create “leaky gut”, so that other large particles can cross the intestinal barrier, enter your blood stream and begin other immune cascades. This is basically how food sensitivities start." -

http://www.paleoplan.com/2011/03-30/why-no-grains-and-legumes/

  • "But no over-the-counter lotion or change to our home took the eczema away." -

http://simplehomemade.net/how-a-simple-diet-change-cured-infant-eczema/

@ Everyone: Please help add better citations for this article Laoseb97 (talk) 17:46, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Well, most of those sources seem to be anecdotal evidence from practitioners of alternative medicine, and that does not count as reliable sources according to Wikipedia's standards. You are most likely going to have to find a peer-reviewed research article investigating a link between lectins and atopic dermatitis, or at the very least just a mention of the possibility of such a link in medical literature.
I also just read the article suggested by this person (2 years ago! how can no one have read this before?), which among other things claims the following:
"Parents often suspect food allergies in children with atopic dermatitis because they notice the eczema getting worse when new foods are introduced. Whilst it is very common for the eczema to become more difficult to manage when new foods are being introduced it is only very rarely due to a true allergy. As eczema tends to reflect other stresses the body is facing, any new challenge, such as the digestive system getting used to a new food, may cause a temporary increase in eczema symptoms. Just as the gut takes some time to tolerate certain new foods, so does the skin."
So it is very probable that your lectin hypothesis is just a wild goose chase. Triougd (talk) 19:07, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

@ Triougd: Thanks for replying and for your links you recommended to me.
I have a few clarifications and queries to make;

  1. I have now read the article and I have to say, that it's basically the same spiel on the NHS website, which I have read thoroughly. If you look back to the main article (atopic ...), you'll see that I have acknowledged these many "causes" (quote from the article you suggested) as Mitigating factors and, also, briefly explained how they each contribute to the disease.
  2. Actually, I am not saying that the cause is a food allergy, It is NOT IMO. Instead I claim that It it is merely the result of over consumption ("A diet high in Lectins" - my quote) of a potentialy harmful food (all food is in excess). see e.g.Goiter and the seemingly harmless, Broccoli!. That is why say that the cure is temporary exclusive diet change - implying that a patient will be able to resume a more varied/ healthier eating habit/diet.
  3. What do you mean by "peer reviewed"
  4. So it is very probable that your lectin hypothesis is just a wild goose chase - Do you personally think that my hypothesis makes/ lacks ANY sense ? Or are you just trying to make sure this article is well cited. I'd like to know. Just curious as to your motive. I find your statement slightly offensive but i'll laugh it off.

Laoseb97 (talk) 19:17, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

1. Well, the linked article outright states that the cause for atopic dermatitis is currently unknown. It does however explicitly state what makes it better and what makes it worse, according to what medical science has found out. And as long as the cause stays unknown that is just as good as what we're going to get.
2. I know you aren't claiming it's caused by a food allergy, but the argument in that quote still holds. People think it is caused by a food allergy because when they eat certain kinds of food they get worse. You think it is caused by lectins because when they eat certain kinds of food they get worse. That qoute explains both of these situations.
3. Peer review is an important part of any scientific field. See here for what counts as a reliable source according to Wikipedia.
4. Well, I came to this article expecting to find correct (and well-sourced) information on atopic dermatitis. I did not find that. What I instead found was a bunch of unsourced claims and even worse, a bunch of wrongly sourced claims. I consider the last part to be especially damning since I don't like to be lied to when I read an article. The state of this article is so bad that it actually managed to do what thousands of other wikipedia-articles has never been able to do before; making me register an account.
The reason I speculated that the lectin hypothesis is a wild goose chase comes from the fact that I haven't been able to track down any credible source on it at all. I care about finding out exactly which hypothesis is the correct one, not whether or not that one is. Triougd (talk) 20:26, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for the links again - I have read them.
I understand the importance of sources in medical articles and I am sorry that my edits were substandard (in terms of what you said). I think you said something about "alternative medicine" - I like the name (joke). Seriously though, In view of all that we have discussed , I am now contemplating making a new page called "Lectin hypothesis" as an alternative medicine stub-thing - I will take what i said on this article, on there and leave it as a hypothesis until somebody finds a black and white, peer reviewed, reliable source that supports it. Then I will collapse the page into "Atopic Dermatitis" . Meanwhile you could then revert (I don't know how to revert) the page, to your favorite archived version. Would you be in favor of that? Also any advice/ cautions would be appreciated.
I haven't been able to track down any credible source on it at all. I care about finding out exactly which hypothesis is the correct one, not whether or not that one is - Thanks for trying anyway.Laoseb97 (talk) 18:59, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

I should make it clear that I'm not blaming your edits for the state of this article. We already know from this talk page that the article has most likely been in a terrible state for at least the last 2 years (and probably longer than that), and I doubt your edits could have made it much worse. I also fully support your edit that deleted the dairy section (which unfortunately was reverted), since it is wrongly sourced as well.
I'm not sure how to "roll back" to an older version either, only how to revert one specific edit at a time. Therefore I suggest just deleting everything we can't find a source for (mainly the lectin and dairy sections, but also some of the other unsourced claims), and replace it with "The cause of atopic dermatitis is currently unknown" using the previously linked article as a source.
As to putting the lectin hypothesis in its own article, you should probably see if you can find a good source explaining what problems they cause in general and then mention eczema as a possible example. I'm guessing it has a high chance of being deleted otherwise. It may also be helpful to read the Wikipedia policy written here if you haven't already done so. Triougd (talk) 22:11, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Oh, ok.
Ok.
In the light of your advice, I not going to make the new page (I know It is far more advanced than current sources suggest ( It counts as OR). I am better off not writing it on Wikipedia. Ill try and find some where else to post it- I might serve Better as Original research. Thanks.Laoseb97 (talk) 18:38, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

Rewrite of Causes Section Required

I read this page out of interest after a patient decided they were an expert on Eczema after reading this Wikipedia article. I found a lot of factual errors in the article no doubt contributing to the widespread misconceptions about the causes of eczema.

  • Food & allergy is considered to play a minor role in eczema. If it was as simple as a dairy (or other food) allergy and excluding it from the diet, eczema would disappear overnight and I would be out of a job.
  • Allergy testing is not routinely recommended in clinical practice for a number of reasons. These include the fact that allergy plays a minor role, allergy tests (eg RAST and skin prick testing) are unreliable with low sensitivity and specificity. If a patient is allergic to a food they should be able tell you so from their experiences without the need for useless testing.
  • There is (almost) a complete lack of discussion about the role of bacterial colonisation with Staphylococcus aureus.
  • Climate
  • I could go on and on.

Perhaps the editors for this page should have a thorough read of: http://dermnetnz.org/dermatitis/atopic-causes.html (and associated pages) which presents a more accurate view of the causes of eczema. It is written and edited by expert dermatologists. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.98.223.127 (talk) 11:42, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Given that this Wikipedia article currently lacks any credible source as to the cause of atopic dermatitis, following this guy's advice is without a doubt the best idea. How this was not done 2 years ago is beyond me. Triougd (talk) 19:12, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Completely agree with you. To read about dietary changes as treatment of AD means to be out of time. The main cause of AD is mutation of filaggrin which is present in about half cases, but the pathogenesis is complex.Vorticus (talk) 22:04, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

Removing

Removing the nonsense about psyche and emotions barring a scholarly cite beyond Sontag, who was talking about popular culture reacting to disease, and not disease reacting to popular culture.

I don't know what you removed, but stress, including by extension emotionally induced stress, plays a major role in aggravating, and even causing (according to some) atopic dermatitis. Ken K. Smith (a.k.a. Thin Smek) (talk) 16:33, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

Atopic dermatitis is a subtype of eczema

also, it is NOT the same as a candida infection... if there is a relationship, then the previous author needs to provide a scholarly citation See: http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/topics/dermatitis/

Please merge with "neurodermatitis"

References

do not merge

atopisches ekzem

disambiguation

not NPOV

Review

Revised, global nomenclature for allergy

Amalgam fillings

Steroid addition

Prevention -> Diet --- not referenced / bad reference

High-quality, dermatologist-approved moisturizer.

Dairy

Lack of Vitamins

At a Loss

Soap

Lancet seminar

Additions

Photograph for this topic very sub-par, not very indicative - could we change it??

helminths?

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI