All About Skin diseases and infections
Skin is the largest organ that has a surface area of about 21 square feet in an average adult. In fact, it accounts for 6-10% of your body weight. Skin is your body’s outer covering protecting you from heat, light, injury, and infection. Skin, though a protective covering can be prone to various infections and diseases. Broadly the skin diseases can be classified as chronic skin conditions, acute skin conditions and skin infection. Most of the skin infections overlap with the chronic and acute skin conditions. Whether it’s simple Rashes, Jock Itch, or any other skin disease, you must learn what it is and its causes.
Chronic skin conditions an overview
They are basically termed chronic as they are not easily curable but can be contained or managed with the use of certain drugs, change in lifestyle, etc. Eczema, Psoriasis, Acne, Rosacea are the major and common chronic skin disorders.
Eczema is when the skin becomes inflamed or irritated with an outbreak of skin rash. Atopic dermatitis or atopic eczema is the common type of eczema. It is found that nearly 10%-20% of infants and 3% of adults. The root cause of eczema is not yet determined. Symptoms include scaly, dry, thickened skin. In infants, it is characterized by a rash on the face and scalp. In eczema, the rashes appear commonly on wrists, knees, hands, feet and also the face. Prevention of eczema is possible by keeping your skin frequently moisturized, by reducing stress, by avoiding the use of scratchy materials such as wool; avoiding harsh soaps and solvents, etc.
Psoriasis is characterized by the appearance of thick, bumpy red patches that are covered by silvery scales commonly appearing on scalp, knees, lower back and elbows. Symptoms include small red bumpy rashes that are itchy in nature. It affects the nails where the nails get pitted, cracked, crumbly and loose.
Acne is a very common problem where every individual suffers from the acne or pimples. Hormones and bacteria are the common cause of acne.
Rosacea commonly affects the facial skin causing redness on the nose, chin, cheeks, and forehead. Bumps and pimples and eye irritation are the common symptoms. Rosacea is triggered by factors such as exposure to the sun/wind, emotional stress, heavy exercise, consumption of red wine, spicy foods, etc.
The skin problems that can be treated: Acute skin conditions
Acute skin problems as the name implies can be easily treated with medications. These problems are temporary and some examples include cold sores, hair loss, plantar warts, corns and calluses, rashes, dermatitis, hives, intertrigo, etc.
Cold sores are also known as fever blisters caused by HSV, Herpes Simplex Virus. The blisters may appear anywhere on the human body but are quite common on lips, nose, cheeks, and fingers. The blisters normally break and a yellow crust oozes out revealing new skin underneath. In certain cases, if the infection spreads to the eye and brain it may lead to blindness and encephalitis.
The rash is always referred to any abnormal change in the color r texture of your skin generally caused due to inflammation of the skin. Eczema, Granuloma annulare, lichen planus and pityriasis rosea are the most common types of rashes.
Chafing is yet another skin condition that affects mostly the thighs, underarms, groins, and nipples. The factors that cause chafing are very tight or loose clothes; running, cycling for long distances; excessive moisture due to sweat and water sports; heat, sand, tight fitting shoes; extra body weight, etc.
Vitiligo is when white patches appear on the skin on many skin areas. Rashes that show up between the skin folds are termed as Intertrigo that basically can show up throughout a lifetime.
Other acute skin diseases that are skin infections as well
Skin infections are caused due to microorganisms and the skin conditions involving microbes are also referred to as skin infections. When the cause of the skin condition is known it can be termed as an infection where the cause is generally a microbe. For instance, cold sore an acute disorder is a skin infection also.
Bacterial infections of the skin include Impetigo caused by the staph MRSA also known as Super Bug, which is a highly resistant bacterium that is resistant to most of the drugs, Folliculitis, Furunculosis, and Carbunculosis, Ecthyma, Cellulitis to name a few. Fungal and yeast infections include Dermatophytosis, Candidiasis, Pityriasis, etc. Viral infections include Warts, Molluscum Contagiosum, Cod Sores, etc.
Related; Skin Pigmentation Disorders
