This is the rarest form of Eczema, as such there is not much information it. It tends to occur in elderly people.

It is recognized by the purple coloring of the skin. Specifically it is of kind of a lavender hue.

As our skin ages it becomes structurally worst with proportionally more dead skin and less live skin. Our skins ability to fight off invaders and repair itself also steadily becomes worst.

For dermatological recognition and etiology, you can read the full paper on Lichenoid Dermatitis here.

What Causes Lichenoid Dermatitis?

Damage to the outer layer of the skin known as the epidermis. This damage is not really well understood at the moment.

This damage changes how the outer layer of the skin exchange chemicals and information with the inner layer

For reasons unknown, the two layers of skin develop an allergic reaction to each other.

This reaction causes the area to become inflamed and purple in color.

Heavy research has gone into determining the cause of this condition.

It could also be a result of contact with certain allergens, both by contact and by ingestion.

Specific drugs, chemicals or a viral infection seem to be likely culprits. Lichenoid Dermatitis is often a drug reaction to some ingested medication.

It may be occurring in the elderly because of heart disease and high blood pressure medication.

It was first observed occurring in troops who took a drug called Mepacrine in world war 2.

Symptoms

Area of Eczema – This type of eczema occurs mainly on the ankles, forearms, wrists and the lower back, but it can occur anywhere including scalp, fingernails, tongue, inner mouth cheeks and genital area.

Purple Bumps on Skin – These can vary in size, but the purple color is the most prominent feature. Bumps can vary all the way from tiny dots to large unsightly bumps. The bumps are often swollen like an acne, but also itchy, making it very uncomfortable (use an anti-itch cream to relive suffering!)

Skin Discoloration – The bumps can become scaly, when they get cleared, gray discoloration will appear, this is responsible for the purple color.

Treatment

The NUMBER ONE priority is to figure out if any medication you are taking may be causing the Lichenoid Dermatitis. This is by far the number one culprit from anecdotal reports and research.

The first line of defense is steroid creams, though as you know I don’t like using them. This form of Eczema is not like other Eczema. Steroid cream is warranted in this particular scenario.

Make sure you only apply the steroid cream to just that one spot and thinly, try to avoid getting steroid cream on unaffected areas. Your doctor is likely to prescribe you a powerful cream.

If the skin is infected, you should not hesitate to ask antibiotics and your doctor would probably agree. Not sure if it is infected or not? –  You can read our article on infected eczema here, infected eczema can make you seriously or even fatally sick.

You also need to stop the itching by using an anti-itch cream like our own, which is the most powerful anti itching cream available, you can use other weaker choices too like mosquito creams etc.

It is important you DO NOT touch or scratch this Eczema or it will make it MUCH MUCH worst, due to the two skin layers getting more inflamed and as a result react negatively with each other even more!

Keep the area from any potential allergens, dust, cars, wool, soap and so on.

Antihistamines should be considered to be taken daily to reduce inflammation. You should try to get the best second generation antihistamine from your doctor, and not the kind that makes you drowsy.

Laser treatment (specifically pulsed dyed laser) also shows promise in treating not only Lichenoid Dermatitis but fixing the purple coloring issue. Research has been done on this.

Vitamin B Complex has potential to also be a treatment of Lichenoid Dermatitis.

Final Note

Lichenoid Dermatitis can be a SYMPTOM of a more serious health condition.

These include hepatitis C, grafted-virus-host(GVF) and many more types of viral infections. In this case, the virus is the cause. You must find a doctor to help you resolve the viral problem.

-Stopitchy