A first of its kind study has found a link between wildfire smoke and some forms of skin disease.
Researchers at UC Berkeley and UCSF tracked the amount of people going to the doctor during the 2018 Camp Fire when wildfire smoke covered the Bay Area for about two weeks, causing a tenfold increase in air pollution.
"We found, to our surprise, that pediatric visits for atopic dermatitis increased by 50% during the two weeks," said Dr. Maria Wei, dermatology professor at UCSF. Wildfire smoke creates particles that are small enough to get into the skin and irritate cells.
Nearly 90% of those patients did not have a known skin condition, suggesting that wildfire pollution can also impact healthy skin.
"These pollutants, which can be quite small with a diameter of 2.5 microns, can actually get into the skin and irritate the cells and cause inflammation, rash and itching," said Dr. Wei.
People with atopic dermatitis – more commonly known as eczema – already have an impaired skin barrier which makes them particularly sensitive to irritants.
Thankfully, Dr. Wei said there are some pretty simply ways to mitigate the effect.
The first is using moisturizer.
"That gives you an artificial barrier that will supplement your natural skin barrier," she explained. "In addition, absolutely wearing long sleeves, long pants can minimize contact with the air as well as staying indoors during times of poor air quality."
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