TOP PAGE>Allergy Encyclopedia>Treatments>Steroid medicine

Steroid medicine

Steroid is a hormone secreted in adrenal cortex on the kidney and it is adjusting the balance of the function in the body. It can be used as medicine, so it can suppress inflammation and even immunity itself. It also can strongly suppresses allergic reactions such as local inflammation. However there are also many side effects, so you need to be carefully. Steroid is used in the following situations;

Atopy treatment, Asthma treatment, Hand eruption treatment and autoimmune disease treatment.

Mechanism to suppress inflamation

Do you remember macrophage? This is the cell that first receive an allergen and operate the subsequent immune system. Steroid suppresses this macrophage’s function. as a result, the immune system after that will not work.

Before administration
After administration

Side effects

Steroid sometimes suppresses even cell proliferation. In this way, the skin becomes thinner and the capillary is lifted and expanded. As a result, the skin will turn red.
Because it suppresses immune function of skin surface, you will be susceptible to bacterial and viral infections, and it make acne on the skin.
If you get used to be administered of external steroid, the function to create steroids in your own body will decline. As a result, the physiological effects that steroids in your own body had done were declined, and causing the following adverse effects.
- Height will not grow.
- It becomes easy for various infectious diseases.
- Bones and muscles will weaken and onset mental instability due to the decrease of adrenaline and noradrenaline.

Steroid medicine and doping

There is something that becomes a doping violation when used without permission.
One of steroid medicines contains an ingredient called glucocorticoid. If it is used without permission it may result in doping violation. Therefore, athletes etc have to be careful about whether this substance is contained or not when using medicine. If they must use this medicine by all means, it is required to do a TUE application.