National Eczema Day: stop prejudice!

Received ideas aroundeczema are numerous and can stigmatize those who suffer from them. To try to deconstruct them, the French Eczema Association is organizing the 10th National Eczema Day on June 1, under the banner of mobilization against prejudice.

Change how others view illness

“Eczema is contagious”, “eczema is dirty”, “eczema is three spots, it’s nothing, it goes away on its own”… The false ideas circulating about this disease of skin are multiple and varied. However, these “hurt, sometimes very hurt” to the millions of French people concerned (2.5 million adults over 15 years old, 850,000 children aged 6 to 11 and 700,000 adolescents aged 12 to 17).

Aware of this suffering, the French Eczema Association wanted to dedicate this 10th National Eczema Day to the prejudices that “stick to the skin” of young and old alike.

Completely free and open to all upon registration, this national day is aimed at patients, health professionals (doctors, pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists, etc.) and all people affected or not by the disease, who wish to know more about the different forms of eczema, with its many physical and psychological consequences.

A 10th edition, which will be structured in two stages: in the morning, several conferences on pathology and current illnesses will be led by doctors and patients. In the afternoon, eczema will “enter the stage” in a play entitled “Eczema, in Fleur de Pau“, directed by Lara Pichet.

On the program, you will find:

• From 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: this morning will aim to inform as many people as possible about this chronic inflammatory pathology, displaying, recurrent and victim of many preconceived ideas; to take stock of progress in research, new treatments and care for adults and children; and finally to support patients to understand and “tame” the disease with advice and to allow the sharing of experience between doctors and patients (outside of the medical consultation) and between patients.
• From 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: The play “Eczema, on the skin” will attempt to change society’s view of eczema, but also to initiate collective reflection on the daily experiences of patients. The performance will be followed by a debate with the public.

Eczema manifests itself by different symptoms:patches of eczema, red, thick, lichenified, sometimes with isolated papules of prurigo, acute inflammatory outbreaks, vesicular or oozing which can be complicated by infections and metabolic disorders”, underlines the French Eczema Association.

The diagnosis of atopic eczema is primarily clinical, based on physical examination and medical history.

In terms of treatments, it is symptomatic: “it does not aim to make the disease which is chronic disappear definitively, but to treat the symptoms during the acute phase and to prevent the occurrence of new ones thrusts“, specifies the Health Insurance website.

If the affected person is an infant or child, the doctor explains to the parents how to use the creams and ointments.

Slide: 10 natural remedies for eczema