What does this mean?
When studying something, we need to use words that everyone understands. Then our findings make sense and can help people. Even common words like a “flare-up” in eczema can mean different things to different people. Everyone in the eczema world talks about “flare-ups” as a term for worsening of the eczema. But that is about where the common language stops. My flare-up will not be your flare-up because it depends on many factors and our past experiences with eczema.
What is a flare?
The National Eczema Association in the USA recently talked with people who have eczema about what they think a flare is. They found six main themes:
- A change from how the person usually is
- How flares affect their feelings and relationships
- Changes in their skin
- Needing to manage their eczema more
- Dealing with itching, scratching, and burning
- Feeling like they’ve lost control and some quality of life because of the flare.
Introducing the Recap of Eczema Questionnaire:
The Recap questionnaire measures eczema control between flare-ups. It asks seven questions about how a person is experiencing their eczema. It asks seven questions and gives a score from 0 to 28. Higher scores show when the eczema is not ‘well-controlled’ – or having a ‘flare-up’.
If you would like to track your own eczema flare-ups over time, you might like to download the My Eczema Tracker mobile phone app. This app includes the Recap questionnaire and another questionnaire that measures eczema symptoms.
How frequently do flare-ups occur?
So, recognising when a flare-up is happening depends on many things and will be different for everyone. How long flare-ups last for, and how often they occur, is also different for each person. The more of the body that has eczema, the more chance of a flare-up happening somewhere.
In a recent survey, we asked people how often they have eczema flare-ups. Some people (35%) said ‘all of the time’. A similar number (35%) said ‘at least once a month’ and some (23%) said every few months. See our survey results page for further details.
Our next study for the Rapid Eczema Trials project will be looking at how best to keep control between flare-ups. It will test whether treating a flare-up for slightly longer helps to keep eczema clear for longer.
More information
If you are interested in reading more on this topic, please see the links below:
NEA Researchers Publish New Paper on the Definition of Eczema Flare | National Eczema Association
Written by Amanda Roberts and Kim Thomas – Co-leads of the Rapid Eczema Trials Project
Originally published at blogs.nottingham.ac.uk