Dr. Ana-Maria Temple explains why pediatric eczema has surged from 1 in 15 children twenty years ago to 1 in 5 today. Many doctors dismiss it as something kids outgrow, which masks how widespread the condition really is.
First of all, I wanna know why there are so many kids today with eczema, because I feel like 25 years ago when I was having kids, it wasn't really a topic, and now it's a topic for everybody.
I know. And it's, it's even more prevalent than we have seen in the medical literature, if you will. So you're right, like 20 years ago, the rates of eczema were 1 in 15 kids. Today's rates are 1 in 5. Wow. But I argue that that's a very low number. I think it's higher. But most doctors, when they see eczema, they say the following things. See if anybody resonates with this. Don't worry about it, they're going to outgrow it. That's number one. So if that's your position, you're not going to report it. Number two, it's normal. Eczema is a normal part of childhood. So if—
All kids deal with it.
It's not a big— exactly. So if you're as a physician going, oh, well, they're going to outgrow it and it's not a big deal, normal part of childhood, you're not going to report it. So what gets reported is actually less numbers than it's seeing truly in the office. That makes sense. So I agree with you. When I go to conferences and I have my little booth and I do speeches and People come up to me all the time. They're like, everybody knows somebody with eczema. They do. If they have not dealt with eczema themselves.
