Monday, January 30, 2006

The Eczema Diagnosis

Eczema diagnosis is generally based on the appearance of inflamed, itchy skin in eczema sensitive areas such as face, chest and other skin crease areas. However, given to the many possible reasons of eczema flare ups, a doctor is likely to ascertain a number of other things before making a judgment:
An insight to family history
Dietary habits
Lifestyle habits
Allergic tendencies
Any prescribed drug intake
Any chemical or material exposure at home or workplace
To determine whether your eczema flare is resulting from an allergen, a doctor may suggest a blood test called radioallergosorbent test (RAST). In the test, blood is mixed with an allergen; antibodies developing in the blood are the sign of an allergy.
The diagnosis may also involve a skin lesion biopsy; removal of a small piece of skin for examination in a laboratory.
Blood test and biopsy are not regular procedure for eczema diagnosis. However, doctors at times do follow it in order to draw a conclusive judgment.