Eczema – in the focus between dermatology and allergology

Eczemas represent the most common non-communicable inflammatory skin diseases. Eczema is a non-contagious epidermo-dermitis with typical clinical (redness, scaling, oozing, crusting, lichenification and itch) and dermatohistological (acanthosis, parakeratosis, spongiosis, lymphocytic infiltrates) signs. Eczema mostly occurs on the basis of hypersensitivity. In a simple classification, eczema can be differentiated into contact eczema (irritative toxic, allergic), atopic eczema (atopic dermatitis), seborrheic eczema, nummular eczema and others. Eczema can also be classified according to elicitors (e. g. nickel eczema, chromate eczema) or localization (e. g. eyelid eczema, leg eczema etc.). There is a gap between the progress in pathophysiological understanding of the deviated immune response and the practical management in everyday clinics. At the moment there is not yet a targeted treatment with biologics as is available for psoriasis. However, with anti-IL4 receptor antagonists there is hope on the horizon.