diagnosis of eczema
Your GP will usually be able to diagnose eczema by assessing your or your child's skin and asking some questions about the symptoms.
You will be asked whether there is any history of eczema in your family, or any other conditions that may be related to your eczema, such as allergies or asthma.
Diagnostic criteria
To help confirm a diagnosis of atopic eczema, your GP will assess the appearance of your skin against a number of diagnostic criteria.
In order to be diagnosed with atopic eczema, you must have had an itchy skin condition in the last 12 months plus three or more of the criteria outlined below.
- Itchiness and irritation in the creases of your skin, such as the front of your elbows, behind your knees, at the front of your ankles, around your neck or around your eyes.
- You currently have asthma or hayfever, or you have had them in the past. In the case of a child who is less than four years of age, they must have an immediate relative, such as a parent, brother or sister, who has asthma or hayfever.
- Your skin has been dry within the last 12 months.
- Your condition started when you were two years of age or younger (this criteria is not used if your child is less than four years of age).
- There is eczema on the skin covering your joints, or the parts of your body that flex, such as your elbow, knees and wrists.
If your symptoms meet these diagnostic criteria, your GP will probably not need to carry out any formal kind of testing in order to confirm the diagnosis.
Establishing trigger factors
Your GP will work with you to try to establish what factors worsen your eczema. They may ask you some questions about your diet and lifestyle to see if there are any obvious factors that may be contributing to your symptoms. For example, if you have recently changed the type of soap or detergent that you use, it may be a trigger factor.
Your GP may also use other methods to try to determine what is triggering your eczema. For example, they may ask you to keep a food diary, to establish whether a specific food is causing your symptoms to worsen.
A food diary involves you noting down everything that you eat, while at the same time making a record of any eczema flares that you have. In this way, your GP can see if there are any patterns between your symptoms and what you eat.
For information about the range of medicines used in the treatment of eczema follow this link
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Last Reviewed: 29 September 2010
Next Review Date: 3 August 2011
