Eczema & Dermatitis

Triggers vary and can include irritants, allergens, stress and weather. Part of the assessment is identifying what affects your skin.

Treatment usually combines good skincare with targeted treatments to settle inflammation, tailored to your skin and the severity of the flare.

Eczema is often a long-term condition, but it can usually be well controlled with the right routine and treatment plan.

Where a contact allergy is suspected, we advise on assessment and arrange appropriate referral for testing if needed.

With the right treatment, eczema should usually begin to improve quite quickly, often within a few days. Our initial aim is to bring the flare under control, relieve itching and restore the skin barrier.

Once the skin has settled, ongoing moisturising and, where appropriate, maintenance treatment can help reduce the risk of further flares. We will review your progress and adjust the plan if your eczema is not improving as expected.

Eczema-prone skin usually benefits from a simple routine focused on restoring and protecting the skin barrier. Regular use of a suitable fragrance-free emollient is important, and a gentle soap substitute or non-foaming cleanser is usually preferable to standard soaps and shower gels.

Products containing fragrance, essential oils, harsh exfoliants or multiple active ingredients may irritate the skin and worsen flares. We can review your current routine and recommend which products to continue, change or stop.

These conditions can look similar but are managed quite differently, so an accurate diagnosis matters. Eczema tends to be dry, itchy and inflamed; psoriasis often causes thicker, scaly patches; and rosacea mainly affects the central face with flushing and redness. Others, such as seborrhoeic dermatitis, can overlap too. We examine your skin and take a history to reach the right diagnosis and the right treatment.

Used correctly, topical steroids are an effective, well-established treatment, and the risk of side effects is low. They are generally applied thinly to the affected skin for short treatment bursts, at the strength advised for that area, and used alongside regular moisturisers; the fingertip-unit guide helps judge the right amount.

Milder strengths are used on the face and skin folds. They should not be used on infected skin, and long-term use of stronger steroids without review is avoided. We explain exactly how much to use and for how long, and review your treatment.