When it comes to any disease or condition, education is always your first line of defense. With skin asthma, it's no different. Skin asthma (or atopic eczeme or dermatitis) is an itchy, chronic skin condition that can develop early in childhood and may persist until adult life. Some kids may also develop allergic rhinitis and even bronchial asthma.
Though your child may not show symptoms at first, being exposed to certain elements can cause the condition to flare up, requiring medication. Mild symptoms may not make an impact on his daily activities, but severe outbreaks may disrupt his schooling and sleep and even affect his psychological and emotional well-being.
To lessen the possibility of your child developing skin asthma, or if you already have the condition and are trying to reduce the number of episodes you have within a given period, check the slide show below for six trigger factors to watch for.
For more articles on asthma, check out these links:
- Breathe: 10 Ways to Prevent Asthma Attacks
- What Every Mom Should Know about Asthma in Kids
- 5 Myths about Asthma
(First published in the March 2009 issue of Good Housekeeping Philippines, Good Health section as "Stop Skin Asthma;" adapted for use in Female Network; photo by xelusionx via Flickr Creative Commons)
