The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

Research Writing 201 eczema are quite high. While eczema is physically draining, as the body is constantly reacting to and processing allergens, it also significantly impacts emotional health. As children grow up, they become more conscious of their bodies. Children with eczema are even more painfully aware of theirs. Classmates, and even strangers, are likely to ask why their skin looks like that, or what is wrong with them. This innocent lack of understanding by others can lead to a negative self-image (Lawton “Childhood Atopic Eczema: Adherence to Treatment” 230-231). According to Greener’s article, “Eczema: What Lies Beneath?”, “eczema patients showed worse mental health scores than people with diabetes or hypertension…[as well as] poorer social function scores” (438). This is due to coping with the physicality of eczema, along with the emotional stress of wondering whether something really is wrong with them, which in turn affects their caretakers or parents who have to care for both their children’s physical and emotional needs. Eczema not only affects the patient, but also affects their caretakers. Caring for someone with eczema is “time consuming and exhausting both for…children and their families…conflict over eczema treatments also [may have] a negative effect on family relationships and drained…physical and emotional resources” of the caretakers (Lawton “Childhood Atopic Eczema: Adherence to Treatment” 228). It is vitally important that parents have the support of doctors and specialists to help them walk through this difficult journey (Lawton, “Atopic Eczema: The Current State of Clinical Research” 1062). Parents caring for these children alone with no support can make family life a rough and high-stress environment. Proper treatment can help alleviate some of this stress. There are multiple routes to treating eczema. Lawton claims, “Treatment is multifaceted and requires a comprehensive assessment of the severity and implementation of a management plan;” assessment includes physical and psychological, and the management plan must be tailored to the individual person (“Atopic Eczema: The Current State of Clinical Research” 1064). Emollients, such as moisturizing lotion or Vaseline, are the baseline of treatment. They provide some sort of protection; since eczema is the result of a weakened or damaged skin barrier. “Once the skin barrier is compromised…allergens can enter the body and cause an inflammatory reaction that…stimulates skin cells to grow rapidly, further diminishing the protective function of the skin” (Sutton