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Medication
Antibiotics
Used to treat:
All types of eczema, when a bacterial
infection develops
Eczema is an itchy condition. Research
shows that people with atopic dermatitis, the most common type of
eczema, may scratch their skin 500 to 1,000 times per day.
Scratching can damage the skin, allowing bacteria and other
microorganisms to enter the body and cause an infection.
What it does: Antibiotics kill
the bacteria causing the infection so that the infection clears.
Research demonstrates that an oral
(taken by mouth) antibiotic can be highly beneficial when the skin
becomes infected. Oral antibiotics are frequently prescribed when a
patient has atopic dermatitis because individuals with this
condition often have colonies of Staphylococcus aureus, the
bacteria that causes a “staph” infection, on their skin.
How to use: Depending on the
severity of the infection, a topical (applied to the skin) or
systemic (swallowed or injected) antibiotic may be prescribed to
clear the infection.
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Take Antibiotics Exactly as Prescribed
It is especially important to take antibiotics as prescribed.
Patients should not skip doses nor stop using the medication
as soon as they feel better. Doing so may allow some of the
bacteria to remain and possibly become resistant to the
medication. When the bacteria become resistant to the
medication, a condition known as antibiotic resistance
develops.
Antibiotic resistance means that
the medication no longer works. In other words, the bacteria
have changed, so they are no longer killed or weakened by the
medication that previously worked. This is becoming a serious
public health problem. Worldwide, previously treatable
bacterial infections are no longer responding to an antibiotic
that had successfully treated an illness. You can help prevent
this by taking antibiotics exactly as prescribed.
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An educational program brought to you by the American Academy of
Dermatology. |
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Skin affected by eczema has fewer defenses against
bacteria, viruses, and fungi. This makes the skin
more susceptible to infection. |
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© American
Academy of Dermatology, 2008 All rights reserved.
