Eczema vs. AD

[Debridement]

Hey Derm-peeps,

I was chatting with an old med school buddy this weekend, and we were talking about atopic dermatitis vs. eczema.

We looked in some derm books, but I can't seem to make heads or tails of the differences. There seems to be a lot of overlap.

Can someone give a concise, non-dermatologist definition of the difference between eczema and AD?

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[xanthines]

I am NOT a dermatologist (just a puny MS1), but Derm Professor A at my school says they're interchangeable while Derm Professor B says they're not (and the admins wonder why we're always so confused... ). I don't remember which book, but there's one somewhere that say they're the same thing too.

I figure if the dermophiles don't agree, then it will be OK for me to consider them to be the same thing

-X

Hey Derm-peeps,

I was chatting with an old med school buddy this weekend, and we were talking about atopic dermatitis vs. eczema.

We looked in some derm books, but I can't seem to make heads or tails of the differences. There seems to be a lot of overlap.

Can someone give a concise, non-dermatologist definition of the difference between eczema and AD?

 

[Raven Feather]

My son has AD--although the terms, for most non-derm people, they use it interchangeably. The tx is still the same. Anyhow, my son's dermatologist said that there only slight differences b/w the two. With AD, one gets inflammation and leatheriness look of/to the skin whereas typically, with eczema it usually is red, itchy patches without inflammation etc. This is what I gathered from him. Hope this helps!

 

[Doctor Bagel]

My son has AD--although the terms, for most non-derm people, they use it interchangeably. The tx is still the same. Anyhow, my son's dermatologist said that there only slight differences b/w the two. With AD, one gets inflammation and leatheriness look of/to the skin whereas typically, with eczema it usually is red, itchy patches without inflammation etc. This is what I gathered from him. Hope this helps!

Interesting. I always thought eczema was sort of a subset of atopic dermatitis, but maybe not. I'm lucky to have both, I guess.

 

[sdnetrocks]

From my current 4th year derm elective, my understanding is that "atopic" dermatitis requires the TRIAD of dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, and asthma. Otherwise, it's called "eczematous" dermatitis...

Anyone else heard it this way?

 

[gary5]

I think of atopic dermatitis as the more clinical term and eczema as more of a lay term.

 

[mrwagner]

Interesting. I always thought eczema was sort of a subset of atopic dermatitis, but maybe not. I'm lucky to have both, I guess.

I think it is kind of the other way around. According to Robbins (Pathologic Basis of Disease, 6th ed.):

Eczema is a clinical term that embraces a number of pathologically different conditions. All are characterized by red, papulovesicular, oozing, and crusted lesions early on that, with persistence, eventuate into raised scaly plaques. In time, acute spongiotic dermatitis may evolve to a more chronic form in which epidermal hyperplasia and excessive scale, rather than blistering, dominate the clinical and histologic picture. Clinical differences permit classification of eczematous dermatitis in the following categories: (1) allergic contact dermatitis, (2) atopic dermatitis, (3) drug-related eczematous dermatitis, (4) photoeczematous dermatitis, and (5) primary irritant dermatitis.​

Gotta love that Robbins ...

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I think it is kind of the other way around. According to Robbins (Pathologic Basis of Disease, 6th ed.):

Eczema is a clinical term that embraces a number of pathologically different conditions. All are characterized by red, papulovesicular, oozing, and crusted lesions early on that, with persistence, eventuate into raised scaly plaques. In time, acute spongiotic dermatitis may evolve to a more chronic form in which epidermal hyperplasia and excessive scale, rather than blistering, dominate the clinical and histologic picture. Clinical differences permit classification of eczematous dermatitis in the following categories: (1) allergic contact dermatitis, (2) atopic dermatitis, (3) drug-related eczematous dermatitis, (4) photoeczematous dermatitis, and (5) primary irritant dermatitis.​

Gotta love that Robbins ...

Thanks! So my nickel allergy is eczema that is allergic contact dermatitis, and my hand eczema is atopic dermatitis? Either way, they both suck.