What are the types of Severity for Atopic Dermatitis?
Many atopic dermatitis sufferers wonder how their disease would be classified. There are three recognized categories for atopic dermatitis severity: mild, moderate and severe.
Most organization tracking eczema experience indicate that 60% of AD sufferers have mild, 29% moderate and 7% experience severe AD.
When Ceraclere surveyed USA eczema sufferers they self-identified the severity level differently than research shows. Although the same percent of people self-reported they had severe disease (7%), many more considered themselves as moderate severity (56%) and ferwer reported their disease as mild (37%).
This tells us that sufferers tend to rate the degree of their skin disease as worse than what doctors rate. It is completely understandable, since every sufferer of AD, even those who are considered mild, knows that this disease can make daily life miserable.
While this is important to know, what really helps is understanding how the severity is graded so individuals can determine their own severity level.
Here are descriptions of each severity level:
· Mild AD, is characterized by flaky or dry patches that only occasionally itch. Flares are usually small, with some redness. Typically, mild AD flares do not crack, weep or ooze. It is often treatable by using topical mositurizers.
· Moderate AD, is characterized by very dry skin and larger flares that can occur in multiple locations at one time. The skin can be so dry that it actually cracks. Itching is severe enough that it disrupts daily activity and sleep.
Skin becomes inflamed, which appears deeply red. It has a greater impact on daily life. This severity level can be treated by creams or lotions identified by the manufacturer as “eczema relief”. However some sufferers require prescription medication to resolve symptom.
Severe AD, is characterized by widespread dry skin, constant itching, often with the presence of thickened, leathery and raised skin. The flare is often inflamed, which results in extreme redness in white-skinned people and dark brown, purplish, violet, or ashen-gray patches on brown-skinned people.
Severe AD flares crack, often weeping and oozing. Bleeding is common. This level of eczema severely impacts daily life and sleeping. Most eczema sufferers require prescription medication in conjunction with advanced topical creams to resolve their symptoms.
Skin Picture Sources :
The Eczema Area and Severity Index—A Practical Guide
Jon M Hanifin ∗, Wenelia Baghoomian ∗, Erin Grinich ∗, Yael A Leshem †, Michael Jacobson ∗, Eric Lawrence Simpson Dermatitis. 2022 May 20;33(3):187–192. doi: 10.1097/DER.0000000000000895
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