Eczema costs sufferers "an hour's sleep a night"

For people unaffected by it, eczema may appear to be nothing more than an unpleasant skin condition. But the results of a recent poll of 1,000 people with eczema revealed to what extent their lives are affected by it.

According to the survey, people who suffer from eczema lose on average an hour's sleep a night. One of the main causes of this sleep loss is the itching caused by this skin condition. Of those questioned, 63% nominated itching as the one symptom they would like to lose most.

Itching also becomes worst during "flare-ups." Results from the survey found the most common triggers of eczema flare-ups were stress (48%), washing powder (39%) and skin care products. And one in four people thought that skin care products containing perfume, lanolin or preservatives made their condition worse.

Videos

Three videos have been made to help people cope with some of the most troublesome aspects of eczema - flare-ups, lack of sleep and how to treat it in childhood.

• Sleep and eczema
• Eczema and children
• Dealing with eczema flare-ups

This article was published on Mon 28 September 2009