Atopic dermatitis.

Authors

Brittney Hulsey, Clay W Walker, Amanda McFarlane

Published in

JAAPA : official journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Volume 39. Issue 11. Pages 29-35. Nov 01, 2026. Epub Oct 27, 2026.

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory skin disease that commonly begins in childhood and can persist or first appear in adulthood. Its burden reflects pruritus, sleep loss, pain, infection, psychosocial effects, and treatment demands rather than visible extent alone. Diagnosis is clinical and requires recognition of age- and skin tone-specific morphology and exclusion of mimics. AD management begins with moisturization, gentle bathing, topical anti-inflammatory therapy, education, and proactive maintenance. Newer nonsteroidal topical agents and targeted systemic therapies have expanded options, but treatment should be individualized according to age, disease severity and control, comorbidities, safety, access, and patient preference. Routine elimination diets, topical antimicrobials for uninfected disease, antihistamines as primary antipruritic therapy, and systemic corticosteroids are generally not recommended for AD. This review provides physician associates with a practical approach to diagnosis, severity assessment, stepwise treatment, complication recognition, and timely referral.

PMID:
42934910
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Oct 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.