[Kim Jaeho's Life Story]<261> Atopic Dermatitis, What Is the Problem?

The skin, also called the epidermis, which covers the entire outer part of our body, is located on the very outside to protect our body, so it is always exposed to various accidents and the risk of skin diseases. According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, in 2019, as many as 14.58 million people received treatment for skin diseases, accounting for 29% of the entire population, making it difficult for anyone to be free from skin diseases.

Among numerous skin diseases, atopic dermatitis often appears from two to three months after birth and frequently affects infants and young children. It causes severe itching, red spots, blisters, and especially troubles young children. Atopic dermatitis tends to decrease as one grows up, significantly reducing in adults but somewhat increasing again in the elderly. Over the past 10 years, the number of people treated for atopic dermatitis has remained around 950,000 to 1,050,000.

To avoid suffering from atopic dermatitis, it is important to understand what kind of disease it is. It should be noted that it is caused by the immune system not functioning properly. Immune-related skin diseases caused by the immune system failing to protect the body from pathogens such as bacteria or viruses can be divided into three types: infectious skin diseases, autoimmune skin diseases, and allergic skin diseases.

First, infectious skin diseases occur when the immune system is weak and cannot adequately protect the body from pathogens, making the skin susceptible to various infections like shingles or athlete’s foot, or causing slow recovery when infected. Next, autoimmune skin diseases are caused when immune cells attack normal cells instead of pathogens, including diseases such as alopecia areata, lupus, and vitiligo.

Additionally, allergic skin diseases occur when the skin reacts hypersensitively to harmless substances such as plants like poison ivy, metals, cosmetics, or preservatives, causing inflammation on the face, arms, legs, etc. Atopic dermatitis is one of these allergic skin diseases, and other allergic skin diseases include hives and food allergies.

If you visit a hospital due to atopic dermatitis, will it be well treated? Diseases are usually cured by eliminating their causes, but according to the National Health Information Portal of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the exact cause of atopic dermatitis has not yet been fully identified. It is believed to result from a complex interaction of genetic predisposition, environmental factors, immunological abnormalities, and skin barrier dysfunction.

So, is atopic dermatitis being well treated? The basic treatment for atopic dermatitis involves removing triggers to prevent symptom onset and worsening, maintaining strong and clean skin through appropriate bathing and moisturizer use, using topical steroids or topical immunomodulators to prevent secondary skin infections, and sometimes applying specialized treatments such as phototherapy.

Does atopic dermatitis improve well with such treatment? These treatments do not cure dermatitis by eliminating the cause of immune system hypersensitivity but rather alleviate some symptoms by removing some immune hypersensitivity triggers and using bathing and moisturizers. Since this is not a fundamental solution, the condition does not improve well.

Reflecting this reality, the National Health Information Portal states that atopic dermatitis repeatedly improves and worsens over a long period, and there is currently no treatment that can completely prevent recurrence. Therefore, rather than aiming for a complete cure with one treatment, it is important to have a relaxed and positive mindset to manage the condition consistently to prevent relapse and worsening. Even if symptoms improve, if aggravating factors are not avoided, recurrence can happen anytime, so regular use of moisturizers and efforts to remove aggravating factors are necessary.

Is there a better way to overcome atopic dermatitis beyond these limited treatments that only alleviate some symptoms? Instead of being overly obsessed with eliminating uncomfortable symptoms caused by atopic dermatitis, it is necessary to focus on the function and working method of immune cells.

The function of immune cells is to protect our body from harmful substances entering the body or harmful changes occurring inside the body. The nucleus of immune cells contains all the programs needed to perform these functions within about 20,000 genes, so for immune cells to perform their functions smoothly, the necessary genes must be activated when needed.

Like other cells, one immune cell contains about 6 billion DNA molecules, which make up about 20,000 genes. For immune cells to function normally, these 20,000 genes inside the immune cells must not be damaged, and genes that need to be activated must be properly turned on when required.

However, according to scientific research, cells in our body can have up to one million DNA damages per day among the 6 billion DNA molecules that make up a single cell. If these damaged DNAs are not repaired and remain damaged, the damaged genes cannot be activated and cannot perform their roles, so such cells cannot function properly. Therefore, all damaged DNAs in every cell must be identified and replaced with new DNA of the same type.

The process of repairing damaged DNA involves an omnipotent intelligence existing in the form of genes inside the cell, which turns on the necessary genes when needed. The author calls this omnipotent intelligence the “best doctor prepared inside my body.” If we maintain good lifestyle habits, DNA damage is minimized and damaged DNA is well repaired, but with poor lifestyle habits, DNA is heavily damaged and difficult to repair.

If the DNA inside cells is excessively damaged or the genes responsible for repairing damaged cells fail to function properly, resulting in many cells not being restored to their original state, we become susceptible to various diseases. This is no different for immune cells.

If poor lifestyle habits that cause extensive DNA damage in immune cells and hinder the repair of damaged DNA are not corrected, immune cells’ DNA will be heavily damaged, and the repair of damaged DNA will be poor, leading to immune-related skin diseases, of which atopic dermatitis is one.

The cause of allergic skin diseases like atopic dermatitis, which modern medicine today admits it does not fully understand, is, as examined above, that the genes of immune cells are not properly activated. The reason immune cell genes are not properly activated is that immune cell DNA is excessively damaged, the repair of damaged DNA is hindered, and poor lifestyle habits prevent the gene switches of immune cells from being properly turned on.

Once the cause of atopic dermatitis is understood, the way to overcome it becomes clear. We must correct poor lifestyle habits that interfere with the immune cells’ gene functions so that the necessary genes in immune cells can be properly activated when needed, creating a good environment where the best doctor inside our body can work enthusiastically. This lifestyle is called Newstart (refer to Life Story Part 6).

Among the eight items of Newstart, the first is life diet, which involves eating a variety of plant-based foods including various fruits, vegetables, and grains in their whole form without selective eating of specific foods. Along with this, it is important to reduce the intake of sugar?which causes many problems when consumed excessively?processed or refined bad carbohydrates, saturated fats, trans fats, salt, and alcohol. It is also important to practice the other Newstart items: exercise, water, sunlight, temperance, air, rest, trust, and love.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.