Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is a chronic disease that afflicts the skin. It is not contagious; it cannot be passed from one person to another. The word dermatitis implies inflammation of the skin. The term atopic refers to a group of conditions where there is often an inherited tendency to develop other allergic conditions, such as asthma and hay fever. In eczema, the skin becomes extremely itchy. Scratching leads to cracking, swelling, redness, weeping clear fluid, and finally, crusting and scaling. When some children with eczema grow older, their skin condition improves or disappears completely, although their skin often remains dry and easily irritated. In others, eczema will still be a significant problem in adulthood.

The cause of eczema is not known, but the disease seems to appear from a combination of environmental and genetic factors.

Children are more likely to develop this disorder if one or both parents have had it or have had allergic conditions like asthma or hay fever. While some people outgrow dermal symptoms, nearly three-fourths of children with eczema go on to develop hay fever or asthma. Environmental factors can bring on eczema's symptoms at any time in people who have inherited the atopic disease trait.

Eczema is also linked with malfunction of the organism's defensive system: the system that identifies and helps fight viruses and bacteria that attack your body. Scientists have found that patients with eczema have a low level of a cytokine protein that is essential to the healthy function of the body's defensive system and an elevated level of other cytokines that produce allergic reactions. The defensive system can become misguided and produce dermatitis even when there's no major infection.

In the past, doctors believed that the cause of eczema was an emotional condition. We now know that emotional factors, such as stress, can worsen the condition, but they are not the cause the disease.

Also, a wide range of skin care products contain preservatives. People who are sensible to one of such preservatives may have either localized or widespread dermatitis. Antigen-avoidance lists that optimize patient instruction about what products to avoid are available from the producers of patch test allergens. With these written guidelines alone, patients must read skin care product labels carefully, looking for the names of the allergens as identified by patch tests as well as for any synonyms and cross-reactors of these substances. After an allergen has been identified, a nurse can play a vital role in helping patients understand their dermatitis and its treatment. Nurses are in a perfect position to spend time educating patients about how to discover the sources of specific allergens and, subsequently, how to avoid them.