“Wholesome pores and skin acts as a protecting barrier that helps hold viruses, micro organism, and different irritants out,” says Jody A. Levine, MD, a pediatric dermatologist in New York Metropolis. “In kids with atopic dermatitis, that barrier is disrupted, leaving tiny cracks within the pores and skin that make it simpler for germs to enter.”
Although a chilly sore will also be dangerous to adults with moderate-to-severe eczema, kids with the identical kind of atopic dermatitis are much more in danger when uncovered to HSV-1.
That’s partly as a result of kids have growing immune programs and thinner pores and skin boundaries than adults, so that they’re already at a better danger of catching viruses and getting infections.
“If a baby with eczema is uncovered to HSV-1, the virus can unfold quickly by means of areas the place the pores and skin barrier is broken,” says Dr. Levine. “As an alternative of remaining confined to a small chilly sore on the lip, it will possibly infect giant areas of pores and skin.”
In brief, “Kids with moderate-to-severe eczema are on the best danger, as a result of they’ve extra in depth barrier disruption,” says Levine.
