If your symptoms are severe (and nothing at home seems to help), your dermatologist can prescribe a topical steroid that may be more effective, says Elmariah. Otherwise, stick with warm to cool (not hot!) showers and mild soaps. Corticosteroid creams can help control the inflammatory component, too, she says. Common ones include itchy clothing, sweat, heat, irritating skin products or soaps, and stress, says Jhin. So think back to anything that could have set off the discomfort. While these don’t cause eczema, they can exacerbate the problem at hand. With an outbreak, skin can be itchy, dry, flaky, and sometimes a bumpy rash can pop up anywhere on the body, says Elmariah. How you get it: The current thinking is that eczema is caused by a mix of genetics, an abnormally functioning immune system, your environment (like a product that didn’t agree with your skin), or defects in the skin barrier that allow moisture out and germs in, explains Jhin.
