Brief Answer: the causes vary from one person to the next Detailed Answer: Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic Eczema is a general term that refers to any inflammation of the skin or dermatitis. There are different types of eczema but atopic dermatitis is the one that is associated more commonly with long term severe symptoms. Some of the other types of dermatitis are seborrheic dermatitis, irritant contact dermatitis. If your symptoms are persistent or severe then it is more likely that you have atopic dermatitis.The most common symptoms are xerosis (dry skin), itching of the area, thickening of the skin,red rash. There are different triggers for the rash and it varies from one person to the next. The most common triggers or causes for the rash are dry skin, excess heat and sweating, emotional stress, skin irritants such as chemicals/lotions/creams, allergens (pets, dust, pollen, some foods). There may also a family history of allergies or eczema. You can consider allergy testing either by blood or skin prick testing to find a specific cause. This helps to identify triggers or causes in some persons, once identified they can be avoided if possible. The most common foods to cause problems are peanuts, seafood, milk, soya,eggs, chocolate. In terms of treatment, the best treatment is prevention of the rash. This means avoidance of triggers and adoption of a skin regimen. The skin regimen would include(1) leaving your body wet after bathing, the water helps to moisturise the skin, within 3 minutes of leaving the bath, the emollient creams should be applied to seal in the water . Examples of emollients to be applied to the wet skin are petrolatum, aquaphor (2) topical steroids are applied to the rash. After the rash has settled, a milder steroid creams can be applied 2 to 3 times weekly for 12 to 16 weeks. This has been shown to prevent recurrence. I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

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