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Atopic dermatitis
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Atopic dermatitis is a long-term inflammatory skin disease, meaning a disease in which the skin becomes inflamed and can stay that way for a long time. What has gone wrong is the skin barrier, the layer the skin uses as its border with the outside world.
A damaged skin barrier lets moisture escape, like a wall whose seal has failed, with water slowly working its way out. Through that same break in the barrier, the skin's immune system, its own defenses, is at the same time left more exposed to the environment.
In brief
Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. Chronic means that it can last for a long time.
A disrupted skin barrier lets moisture escape. At the same time, the skin's immune system becomes more exposed to the environment.
Think of the barrier as a seal between the skin and the environment: if it no longer closes tightly, there is less separation between the two.
Sources (1)
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin DiseasesAtopic DermatitisPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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