Skin diseases-Dermatology is the specialty responsible for the study of skin and diseases related to it. Discover below what are the most common conditions.
Coinciding with the month of the baby in that I also have little to be a mother, today I will dedicate the blog entry to the skin diseases of the youngest and solve the most frequent questions that you ask us mothers in the pharmacy counter.
As many of you already know, the skin of the newborn and the child in its first years of life has special characteristics that require specific care. It is a much thinner and thinner skin with a stratum cornea without finishing developing.
The stratum cornea is the layer that protects the skin from external aggressions such as infections, intervenes in the regulation of body temperature, prevents water loss … In addition; the pH of the skin of the newborn at birth is close to 6.5. This ph will be acidified in the first weeks of life until it reaches 5.5, which gives the skin greater acidity and greater defense capacity.
On the other hand, the sebaceous glands are scarce and the immune system deficient so the defense mechanisms are much less developed than in an adult skin and there is a greater risk of infectious and inflammatory skin diseases.
The skin diseases
The skin is the most extensive organ of the organism. Thus, it has a thickness of between 0.5 and 4 mm, depending on the area of the body. It acts as a protection barrier against external agents and as an element of communication with the environment.
The skin isolates us from environmental factors such as bacteria and protects us against trauma or external organisms, such as mosquitoes. Likewise, it is the main body in contact with the environment. Therefore, it also transmits information about it, using temperature, movement or pain sensors.
The skin is composed of three main layers that are from greater to lesser depth: the hypodermis, the dermis and the epidermis. . This last layer, which is the one that is exposed to the medium (superficial layer) is perhaps the most studied by the field of dermatology, since most skin diseases affect the epidermis.
On the other hand, there is a varied population of microorganisms that inhabit our skin and make up its normal flora. These microorganisms play a very important role in the proper functioning of the skin. However, the existence of wounds or skin diseases can cause these microorganisms to end up causing infections that would aggravate the damage.
The main skin diseases
Acne
The acne is the most common skin disease. It can affect all kinds of people and develop at any age. However, the most common is that it occurs during adolescence. Acne has a clear and obvious symptomatology, since it gives rise to pimples, pimples and pustules that can develop on the face or any other area of the body.
The physiological reason that explains acne is found in the sebaceous glands, located in the skin. These glands have the function of sebum production. In people with acne, the exit pore of the sebaceous glands becomes blocked, producing an infection and inflammation that results in the appearance of pimples and pimples.
Warts
The appearance of warts on the skin is also a very common condition in the field of dermatology. A wart is nothing more than a high proliferation of hardened skin cells. They are usually painless and their cause is usually viral.
Psoriasis
The psoriasis is an autoimmune disease which causes skin lesions squalors type. Skin cells divide very quickly and tend to accumulate, forming flakes and red spots on the skin that can cause itching or even pain.
It is a chronic disease that can appear and disappear periodically. Nowadays its operation is not known exactly, but it is known that it has a clear hereditary component.
Contact dermatitis
It is an allergic reaction to certain foreign agents that causes the appearance of lesions and redness. The agents that produce this type of reactions are usually irritating compounds such as chemicals, soaps, detergents.
Seborrhea dermatitis
It is a chronic inflammatory disease, which causes the formation and scales in fat areas of the body such as the face and scalp. It is due to the existence of allergic reactions to a certain type of fungus and is in many cases the underlying cause of dandruff.
Eczemas
They are inflammatory lesions of the skin, similar to dermatitis, but usually evolve differently. They are usually desquamative lesions that cause a lot of itching. They can appear as a simple redness, forming blisters or as a spot.
Vitiligo
It is a disease that causes a pigmentation deficit in the skin, when the skin cells that synthesize melanin (pigment that gives coloration) are altered. The vitiligo disease manifests itself in the form of white spots that can appear in any area.
At present there is no clear cause to explain the appearance of the disease; however, it is suspected that it may have an autoimmune origin that ends up damaging the cells responsible for the synthesis of melanin.
Finally, the skin acts as a protective barrier against the environment that surrounds us, which makes it susceptible to the appearance of various diseases. Dermatology is the specialty responsible for the study of the skin and the disease related to it, these are the most common that the human being is prone to suffer.
Most common skin diseases in babies
Diaper rash
My son has a very red and irritated bum and cries a lot in diaper changes. It is one of the most common skin conditions in the first months of life and up to 2 years that occurs with inflammation and redness of the areas with greater friction of the diaper: genitals, buttocks, inguinal folds area.
This dermatitis is due to moisture and occlusion in this area. In addition, the contact with urine and feces cause the pH of the area to vary, increasing irritation, and the problem can even be aggravated by by fungi or bacteria. Also with the exit of the first teeth, the babies produce more saliva than they swallow and the stools are more liquid and acidic increasing the irritation.
Acne neonatal
It usually appears during the first months of the baby’s life and is very similar to adult acne in appearance: inflammatory papules, comedowns and other lesions appear on the forehead, cheeks and chin area.
Do not be alarmed, it is very common; it is due to an overstimulation of the sebaceous glands of the baby both by maternal androgens and the newborn itself.
It does not require treatment and disappears by itself. In more severe cases an antibiotic can be applied but always with medical prescription.
Skin diseases – milk crust
It is also called childhood seborrhea dermatitis. It is very common and appears in the form of yellow scales on the baby’s scalp. Sometimes it also extends to the eyebrows, cheeks and folds of arms and legs.
