There is nothing more exciting than being presented with new information when it comes to atopic dermatitis! Not only was new information uncovered, but it could be paramount to understanding the link in chronic conditions of developed nations.
On October 28th, I had the pleasure of being invited to Sanofi Regeneron’s The Type 2 Inflammation Connection virtual event. This event featured global experts, a patient advocate, the leader of GlobalSkin, and a knowledgeable physician.
The event opened with Dr. Alexander Zink, a German Dermatologist at the Technical University of Munich. Dr. Zink gifted us with a brilliant breakdown of connecting Type 2 Inflammation and Atopic Dermatitis. Here’s the 411:
- Excessive type 2 inflammation is an overactive immune system response and can be an underlying link between different atopic, allergic, and other inflammatory diseases.
- Lack of awareness in type 2 inflammation means patients aren’t aware of all the different treatment options available.
- Those a high number of people with moderate-to-severe forms of type 2 inflammatory diseases struggling with uncontrolled symptoms.
- Due to the severity of type 2 inflammation, many people are negatively impacted in their everyday life.
Next, we transitioned to the panel discussion and Q&A hosted by Massive Science co-founder, media producer, and documentary filmmaker Nadja Oertelt.
After introducing herself and her role in this virtual event, Nadja introduced Global Skin Executive Director Jennifer Austin.
Jennifer explained the impact of GlobalSkin (International Alliance of Dermatology Patient Organizations) which is a global alliance of 170 patient organizations spanning 50 countries and representing 60 different skin diseases. Their mission is to improve the lives of patients affected by dermatological skin conditions.
Although Jennifer doesn’t have eczema herself, she is a caregiver of a child who suffers from a severe skin condition. She understands the hardships, trials, and tribulations of how a skin condition truly impacts a family.
Next came patient advocate Karin Hafner from Austria.
Karin graced us with her eczema journey dating back to when her diagnosis at six months old. Like many atopic dermatitis patients, she felt alone since atopic dermatitis wasn’t much before social media. Later on in life, she was able to connect with other atopic dermatitis patients who’d gone through similar hardships, which gained a strong bond through the community.
With this newfound community bond, Karin wanted a go-to platform for resources. With careful curation, she founded the online community https://www.hautinfo.at/, which provides information containing skin diseases, tips, expert advice, and product recommendations. More importantly, she created an online community where those suffering can share their experiences.
The virtual event wrapped up with an educative Q&A where the audience was able to ask the panelists in-depth questions.
Overall, this virtual event was excellent and placed the spotlight on type 2 inflammation being the gateway to many linked chronic ailments. This discovery is vital to understanding the ever so complicated atopic dermatitis and emphasized the bigger picture of patients, researchers, and doctors can tackle this disease once and for all.
Understanding moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis is learning how to tackle the symptoms, one step at a time.
I would like to give a huge thank you to Sanofi Regeneron’s for allowing me to be a part of this virtual event!
My daughter who is just 14 years old and going through eczema flaring episode. She had moderate eczema and some environmental allergies till 4 years old. She had very little or no eczema from 5-12 years but just before she turned 13 her eczema came back and getting worse. Dry skin.any suggestions and support. Thank you!
Hi Gitz,
Thanks so much for reaching out. Ugh, I’m so sorry to hear that your daughter has eczema! Hmmm, there could be a slew of different factors that might be why she’s flaring up. Did she do anything new or out of the ordinary recently? Is she stressed? Could it be due to hormones? Or maybe she came into contact with something that she’s allergic to? There are lots of variables making a proper treatment tricky. What methods have you tried? This might sound far-fetched, but what helps me the most during an awful flare-up is a dead sea salt bath, followed by a moisturizer withdrawal. I let my skin heal by not placing anything on it for a few weeks. While it’s not the prettiest sight, my skin tends to heal faster when it’s about to breathe. But if that’s too much, I’d recommend trying to find the root cause of the flare-up. Then researching the best options for treatment/healing from that point on. I hope that helps.
Oh, I forgot to mention there’s the wet wrap therapy that seems to work well. You might want to try that.
Try buckwheat groats in place of oatmeal. Buckwheat is not a “wheat.” It is a seed that is cut up into tiny pieces. It should be soaked overnight and the water poured off. Buckwheat is highly anti-inflammatory. I really think it helped by eczema.