Drexel doctor finds underlying cause of eczema

PHILADELPHIA - March 4, 2014 (WPVI) -- There are new answers to a common skin problem. Local doctors have discovered the underlying cause of eczema.

Dry, itchy, scaly red skin - it's the hallmark of eczema, sometimes called atopic dermatitis.

Doctors can treat it, but they never really understood how it happens - until now.

Milla George is a little girl who's had a big eczema problem ever since she was born.

"Within about a week of her being born, it was red, scaling, itchy - face, body, hands - pretty much everywhere, " recalls Milla's mother Christina Chung.

Dermatologist Dr. Herbert Allen of Drexel College of Medicine says about 1 in 5 people has eczema, and the number is rising.

There's no age limit to the troublesome condition.

"Kids tend to outgrow it, but it can come back later on," Dr. Allen says.

He says doctors have known for years that genetics plays a role - some, like Milla, are more prone to it.

And doctors knew that staph, a common skin bacteria, also plays a role.

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Drexel doctor finds underlying cause of eczema