Feeling Itchy? Air Pollution Might Be Making It Worse

Short Wave

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4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Short Wave producer Hannah Chinn has adult-onset eczema. They're not the only one. Up to ten percent of people in the United States have it, according to the National Eczema Association — and its prevalence is increasing. Despite its ubiquity, a lot about this skin condition remains a mystery.
So today, Hannah's getting answers. They sat down with Raj Fadadu, a dermatologist at UC San Diego, to ask: What is eczema? What triggers it in the first place? And might climate change make it worse sometimes?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from the Center for U.S. Voters Abroad Foundation.
0:04.0	If you're a U.S. Citizen living abroad, the Center for U.S. Voters Abroad Turnout Project's online form
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0:13.5	Visit International Voter.com.
0:16.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:25.0	Hey Shortwaivers, it's Hannah Chan. I'm a producer, which means you usually hear my name in the credits, but today,
0:30.0	today I'm behind the mic, because for the majority of my adult life I've had eczema.
0:37.0	Up to 10% of adults in the US do so if you're one of them you know exactly what I'm talking about and if you
0:44.3	don't eczema is a condition that makes patches of your skin rough dry and
0:49.8	overwhelmingly itchy sometimes to the point of losing sleep.
0:54.0	It's not contagious, but its prevalence has been increasing over the past few decades.
0:59.0	And I'm not the only person I know who has it. My mom has had it for way longer.
1:07.0	It probably started before I was five, before kindergarten.
1:10.0	It was a rash that was weepy, and it would sting if it got wet and so like at night my parents would put some kind of cream on it and I would have to sleep with my arms above my head.
1:22.0	As she got older, she tried all kinds of things.
1:25.5	Creams, lotions, topical steroids. You can actually see it in a lot of our family pictures.
1:31.2	It's this red, angry rash on her face and arms that just wouldn't go away.
1:39.2	And around the time that I was 12 or 13, she had a tipping point.
1:44.0	It was all over my face and I looked like lobster woman and basically I was realizing it was
1:48.6	getting worse and worse despite any medical intervention.
1:52.3	Until one night she spent away from her house,
1:55.5	and then kind of like magic.
	...

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