Severe complications of folk remedies for atopic dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic disorder, and its course is often punct uated by remissions and relapses despite various treatments, including ster oid therapy. Therefore, a tendency exists for the parents to administer to their children various folk remedies, most of which are not medically or sc ientifically evaluated. In this report, we present the cases of three child ren with AD who developed severe complications following the administration of folk remedies, the safety of which had been evaluated inadequately. The patient in case 1 had electrolyte abnormalities, in case 2, iron-deficienc y anemia, and in case 3, severe hypoproteinemia and electrolyte abnormaliti es.