Atopic dermatitis

Background

  • Also know as atopic eczema
  • A chronic type of inflammatory skin disease affecting many children and adults
  • Occasionally accompanied by asthma and/or hay fever. Patients develop a cutaneous hyperreactivity to environmental triggers.
  • Cause is not known, but believed to be due to an interaction between susceptibility genes, the environment, defective skin barrier function, and immunologic responses.
  • Must distinguish from Seborrheic Dermatitis
    • Occurs between 2-6mo (somewhat later than seborrheic dermatitis)
    • Pruritic (may manifest as fussiness) vs seborrheic (not pruritic)
Atopic dermatitits.jpg

Clinical Features

  • Atopic personal or family history, worse in winter, dry weather
  • Erythema, crusts, fissures, pruritis, excoriations, lichenification

Infantile

  • blisters, crusts, exfoliations
  • Face, scalp, extremities
  • 1st few months of life, resolving by age 2
  • Differentiate from impetigo (which may occur alongside)

Adults

  • Dryness, thickening in AC and popliteal fossa, neck

Differential Diagnosis

Neonatal Rashes

Evaluation

  • Clinical diagnosis
    • Dry skin, erythematous papular lesions
    • Face most commonly involved; nose and diaper areas spared

Management

  • Identify and eliminate triggers
  • Reduce drying of skin
  • Liberal application of emollients (vaseline)
  • Triamcinolone, hydrocortisone, or betamethasone
  • Avoid fluoridinated steroids to the face
  • Consider doxepin for recalcitrant pruritis[1][2]
    • 25-50mg PO qhs
    • Or topical doxepin cream 5% QID

Disposition

  • Outpatient

Complications

See Also

References

  1. Hercogova J. Topical anti-itch therapy. Dermatol Ther 18(4):341-3 (2005 Jul-Aug).
  2. Drake L, Cohen L, Gillies R, et al. Pharmakinetics of doxepin in subjects with pruritic atopic dermatitis. J Am Acad Dermatol 41(2):209-14 (1999 Aug).