Eczema Health Video

Eczema can be a difficult skin condition to live with, but treatment options are available. Learn about eczema from a doctor in this video on skin care.

Take Action

Use 1% hydrocortisone cream
Wash skin with non-soap cleaner
See a dermatologist about symptoms

About this Author

Dr. Loretta Ciraldo, the author of the book Six Weeks to Sensational Skin, is a board certified dermatologist who has made numerous appearances on television shows such as Good Morning America. She holds a degree from Hunter College in New York, an M.D. from Downstate University at SUNY, and did her residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Ciraldo has been a board-certified dermatologist since 1982, and is currently a voluntary professor at the University of Miami, where she runs a clinic in cosmetic dermatology.

DR. LORETTA CIRALDO: Hi, I'm Dr. Loretta Ciraldo, voluntary professor of Dermatology at University of Miami School of Medicine, and author of "Six Weeks to Sensational Skin". Now, so many of us have heard the word eczema, but we may not be all that sure about what it means. And as a dermatologist, I'd like to explain too that eczema really is a whole family of skin diseases. So, when we talk about eczema, eczema can be something as simple as what we call contact dermatitis, meaning that you've come in contact with something you're allergic to. It can be something like childhood eczema, which is typically or medically called atopic dermatitis where you'll have dry and itchy patches, very characteristically in the folds of the skin like inside the elbows, behind the knees, sometimes the creases of our neck. Eczema can also be something that can be caused just by simple irritation or a contact with something like poison ivy. No matter what the cause of your eczema, it can oftentimes, if it's a very mild case, be remedied by a product like 1% hydrocortisone. 1% Hydrocortisone creams used to be available by prescription only, but they have more recently in the last couple of decades, become something that's now over-the-counter. So, if you suspect you have eczema, get yourself 1% hydrocortisone cream, put it on a couple of times a day and think about switching from soap to a non-soap cleanser. If you're not better in a week, see a dermatologist.