Dermatitis is an inflammation of the skin that is directly related to the state of the endocrine and immune systems of the body. The disease can be either independent or complex, associated with other pathological processes.
Symptoms and treatment of dermatitis in adults and children are interrelated. The signs of the disease vary significantly depending on the forms of the disease, but the main ones are the appearance on the skin of various inflammatory elements: papules, rashes, pustules, exfoliating scales, erythema, etc. Often, the appearance of such elements is accompanied by severe itching, sometimes quite painful. Soreness occurs less frequently.
The most common symptoms of dermatitis also include a violation of the sensitivity of damaged areas of the skin. It can be increased or, conversely, reduced, up to its absence. Dermatitis on the body and face has a tendency to seasonal occurrence - remission in the summer and exacerbations in the cold season. Toxic forms of the disease can be accompanied by a deterioration in overall well-being: the appearance of headache and muscular-joint pain, fever, loss of strength. However, in most cases, the symptoms of dermatitis are limited to local manifestations on the skin.
Often dermatitis develops in children, due to age-related imperfection of the immune system and susceptibility to allergies. The most common form of dermatitis in children is considered exudative diathesis of an allergic nature. In childhood, dermatitis proceeds quite rapidly, but rarely have a long nature and are well cured after eliminating the causative factor.
With atopic dermatitis in children, most often there is a burdened family history of allergic pathologies (bronchial asthma, food allergy, hay fever, etc.). At risk are babies who are breast-fed, who have food, drug, pollen or household allergies, frequent viral infections, gastrointestinal tract pathologies, immunodeficiency.
Diaper dermatitis develops due to poor or improper child care. It is provoked by prolonged skin contact with mechanical (tissue, diaper or diaper), physical (moisture and temperature), chemical (ammonia, bile salts, digestive enzymes) and microbial (conditionally pathogenic and pathogenic bacteria, Candida yeast) factors.
Treatment of skin dermatitis
The treatment of this pathology depends on its form and is distinguished by the individuality of the selected therapeutic methods. It is necessary to start therapy with the diagnosis and identification of causes. It is necessary to establish an irritant (toxic substance, allergen, microbe) and eliminate it. If it is not defined, as is often the case with neuro-allergic skin dermatitis, the treatment will be symptomatic, that is, aimed at eliminating the symptoms and maintaining the remission stage. Therapy for this disease is conservative, consists of general and local therapy. Acute dermatitis in children, as a rule, is treated only with the use of local drugs, and chronic types of pathology require complex treatment.
Local therapy consists in the treatment of affected skin areas. Rashes are treated with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory drugs in the form of solutions, ointments, powders, depending on the type of inflammatory element and the stage of its development. Facial dermatitis (seborrheic type) is treated with antifungal ointments. Chronic dermatitis - using anti-inflammatory corticosteroid medications, treated with aniline dyes. Ulcerative lesions should be treated in a hospital.
The general treatment of skin dermatitis is to take antihistamines, immunomodulatory, sedatives, depending on the cause of the disease. It is also necessary to eliminate all sources of chronic infection, for example, carious processes in the teeth, chronic tonsillitis, sinusitis, etc.
A review of dermatitis preparations with a tech and wet surface
Whatever the causes of dermatitis in children and adults, local therapy consists in the use of compresses with weak solutions of potassium permanganate or boric acid. We also use talkers that are prepared in a pharmacy. After compresses, gels are applied to the inflamed area, based on an antihistamine, such as Psilobalm or Fenistil-gel.
When the inflamed skin stops wetting, the Bepanten dermatitis cream (D-panthenol), which penetrates the skin, is converted into vitamin and takes part in the metabolism of skin cells, can be used to accelerate the regeneration processes. Instead of dexpanthenol medications, you can use Solcoseryl or Actovegin gels. These non-hormonal agents improve the nutrition of skin tissues. The ointment "Levosin" also helps, from which it will be described below.
Hormone Review
If the patient has allergic dermatitis, it usually affects large areas of the skin. If local antihistamines do not have the desired effect (while eliminating the effects of an allergen), steroid ointments are prescribed that contain laboratory-prepared hormones, glucocorticosteroids. These local medicines have pronounced decongestant, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic activity.
Corticosteroid (hormonal) ointments used for allergic forms of dermatitis are divided according to the severity of their therapeutic effect:
- Weak: "Prednisolone" and "Hydrocortisone" ointments.
- Medium effect: Afloderm, Flixotide, Dermatop, Lokoid.
- Strong: “Flucinar”, “Kutiveyt”, “Advantan”, “Triamcinolon”, “Celestoderm-B” and “Elokom”.
- Very strong: Chalciderm and Dermoveit.
These medications should be prescribed only by a doctor, as they may have some contraindications and show side effects.
Let us consider in more detail what exactly are used in the treatment of skin dermatitis.
Overview of drugs for infected lesions with dermatitis
If pus began to stand out from the inflamed skin area, or the contents of the vesicles became whitish, this means that the infection got into the wound. In the treatment of such pathologies, creams and ointments for allergic dermatitis with attached infection are used. Such funds are also prescribed by a doctor. They are of three types:
- Medicines containing only an antibiotic (Tetracycline, Erythromycin ointment).
- Local combination preparations consisting of an antiseptic or antibiotic and a certain non-hormonal substance, for example, Levomekol (antibiotic + element for tissue regeneration), Oflokain (anesthetic + antibiotic) and others.
- Combined products based on an antibacterial, antifungal component and hormonal substances, for example, Pimafucort or Triderm.
Overview of drugs for the treatment of atopic dermatitis
So, the cause of dermatitis in children is often an allergy. For the treatment of the disease, the means prescribed by the doctor are used. Among them are hormonal, and antiseptic, and antihistamines that are gentle on the skin. With an exacerbation of the pathological process, when the foci of inflammation are small, and are observed only on the extremities, the list of ointments for dermatitis is quite narrow: mostly weak drugs are used, such as Prednisolone ointment or Hydrocortisone cream. If the affected area does not get wet, children use Lokoid or Afloderm drugs. Otherwise, Afloderm or Flixotide medicines are prescribed.
If the exacerbation of skin disease of dermatitis in a child is difficult, and its foci are localized on the trunk, face and limbs, treatment should be started with such means as Advantan, Elokom, Celestoderm B, Polcortolon, Triamcinolon, "Mometasone furoate."
Such medical devices as “Galcinonide”, “Dermoveit”, “Diflucortolone valerate”, “Chalciderm”, which have a long pronounced effect and deep penetration, are allowed to be used only in adulthood.
Such medicines are contraindicated in case of acne, bacterial and fungal skin diseases, herpes, scabies, skin tuberculosis and shingles. They cannot be used if atopic dermatitis occurs after vaccination. During pregnancy and children up to a year, such funds are not prescribed.
Facial skin is not treated with hormonal medications. At the same time, the use of moisturizers and calcineurin inhibitors is recommended.
If the doctor suspects the addition of bacterial or fungal flora to areas of atopic dermatitis, then the patient is prescribed ointments with an antibiotic and antifungal element, for example, Pimafukort, Triderm.
Means for moisturizing the skin with dermatitis
With skin dermatitis in a child under 7 years of age, hormonal ointments are applied to the dermis pre-treated with emollient. This substance has sufficient fat content, which is necessary for the formation of a protective film. Good drugs from this series include Emolium, La Roche-Pose, Topicrem.
These products are emulsions of natural components that are easily distributed on the skin of a child and dry out within a few minutes. They can be used not only as a “base” for a hormonal drug, but also in the intervals between the use of topical steroids, as well as before going out. Such emollients are considered the best drugs for dermatitis during pregnancy. This is a great alternative to hormone ointment therapy.
What else can cure skin rashes with dermatitis?
An overview of seborrheic skin lesions
The main remedy for seborrheic dermatitis is any antifungal ointment. She may be such drugs as Nizoral, Ketoconazole, Nizorex, Sebozol, Mycozoral. In addition, it is advisable to treat the affected areas with keratoregulatory substances (Mustela Stelaker). In severe cases, hydrocortisone ointment is used, however, physiotherapeutic methods are preferred in the treatment of this type of disease.
Other non-hormonal drugs
With dermatitis in children and adults, in addition to the considered categories of medicines, the following drugs can be used:
- "Eplan" - a tool with bactericidal, wound healing and analgesic properties.
- Ointments for dermatitis with zinc ("Desitin", "Zinc ointment", "Zinocap"), which have good antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antifungal effects.
- Calcineurin inhibitors (Protopic, Elidel) that inhibit the release of substances that cause allergic skin reactions. These agents reduce the severity of the inflammatory process. They are used to treat wrinkles, skin of the neck and face. Such drugs are not used for herpes rash, the presence of warts or genital warts, with ultraviolet radiation.
- "Radevit" - a fortified drug that has a softening and anti-inflammatory effect, eliminates itching.
- What helps ointment "Levosin"? This is a combined drug with anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anesthetic, regenerating properties. The composition of the drug contains such substances: chloramphenicol, sulfadimethoxine, trimecaine, methyluracil. The basis of the ointment is water-soluble polyethylene glycol. This medication is active against meningococci, streptococci, the causative agent of gonorrhea, intestinal and hemophilic bacilli, salmonella, Klebsiella, shigella, serrations, Proteus, Yersinia, spirochetes. Methyluracil from the composition of this agent has an anti-inflammatory effect, accelerates regeneration processes.
- Furacilin ointment and analogues ("Lifuzol", "Furacilin") are antimicrobial medications based on nitrofural. Used in the symptomatic treatment of various forms of dermatitis, in the treatment of secondarily infected lesions of the skin.
- "Gistan" - a product belonging to the class of biological additives and prepared on the basis of extracts of herbs, betulin and dimethicone.
- In cases of infected forms of dermatitis and for prophylactic purposes for children from 3 months of age, the medicine “Dermazin” is widely used in treatment, which is based on a sulfonamide antiseptic - silver sulfadiazine. This element is effective for a large number of microbes, eliminates weeping lesions.
How harmful are hormonal ointments from dermatitis?
They are made on the basis of glucocorticoids, which strongly affect the protein and carbohydrate metabolism in the body. Such medications help to quickly eliminate the symptoms of the disease, but are considered very harmful to health. Long-term use of such ointments for skin dermatitis, especially in large doses, causes such negative consequences:
- acne development;
- slow healing of cuts and wounds;
- alopecia or hypertrichosis;
- subcutaneous hemorrhage;
- the occurrence of spider veins;
- hyperpigmentation;
- atrophy;
- the development of a fungal or bacterial infection at the site of use of the ointment;
- decreased local immunity;
- withdrawal syndrome.
Conclusion
Today in pharmacies you can buy a whole range of dermatitis drugs. Despite this, not every remedy is suitable in one or another case, that is, there is no universal medicine for this disease. This means that when choosing a drug you need to consult a doctor, especially when it comes to treating a child.