Hand eczema in children

Hand eczema is actually not common, and its cause is difficult to determine. It is a complex, chronic skin disease. If children suffer from hand eczema, their skin will become very dry and dark red spots will appear on their hands. Hand eczema is a chronic eczema and the fingers may even develop cracks similar to frostbite. Hand eczema often requires internal and external medication treatment, and generally antihistamine and anti-inflammatory drugs are used.

Hand eczema is an inflammatory reaction of the hand skin due to contact with various external irritants, and it is generally difficult to determine the cause. Most of them have a slow onset and a high incidence rate. The clinical manifestations are dry hands, dark red spots, local infiltration and hypertrophy, and frequent cracking in winter. It is more common among housewives, so it is also called "housewife hand".

The skin lesions of hand eczema present as subacute or chronic eczema, often occurring on the back of the fingers and the palms of the fingertips, and can spread to the back of the hands and wrists, with unclear boundaries or small flaky lesions. In chronic cases, the skin may become infiltrative and hypertrophic, and cracks may occur due to finger movements. The skin around the nails swells, and the nails may become thick and irregular. Hand eczema can also occur on the palm side, which is localized, but the edges are not obvious, mostly rough, with papules, herpes, and infiltration and hypertrophy, and often cracks in winter.

When hand eczema only occurs on the fingertips, it is also called fingertip eczema. When it occurs in the middle of the palm and the palm side of the fingers, the skin lesions are dry, the keratin proliferates, and the cracks are called chronic recurrent vesicular/keratin hyperplastic hand eczema. Skin lesions may also occur in the skin between the two adjacent fingers and the distal metacarpophalangeal joints of the palm. The lesions are apron-shaped and are also called apron-like eczema. Hand eczema caused by frequent contact of hands with animals and internal organs is also called slaughterhouse eczema.

The purpose of internal drug treatment is to fight inflammation and relieve itching. Antihistamines, sedatives, etc. can be used, and antibiotics can be added for those with secondary infections. For topical drug treatment, glucocorticoid emulsions and pastes can be used in the subacute stage, and antibiotics can be added to prevent and control secondary infection; ointments and plasters can be used in the chronic stage; and glucocorticoids can be injected intralesionally for stubborn localized skin lesions.