Atopic dermatitis in paediatric practice

Atopic dermatitis is the most frequent dermatitis amongst children under 11 years of age. It is an inflammatory cutaneous disease, chronic and recurrent, and it involves numerous outbreaks and relapses that affect the child, and hence his family milieu, generally for several years. Its chronic character and the lack of fully satisfactory therapies force the primary care paediatrician to consider this entity as a factor conditioning the quality of life of the patients and as a warning sign for the possible development of other allergic processes. As we do not have a curative treatment available, special relevance is assumed by family collaboration, by the measures for preventing relapses and by efficacy in their symptomatic treatment.