USE OF AN EMOLLIENT AS A STEROID-SPARING AGENT IN THE TREATMENT OF MILD-TO-MODERATE ATOPIC-DERMATITIS IN CHILDREN

The effectiveness of an emollient as an adjunct to topical corticoster oid therapy for the treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis wa s studied for 3 weeks in 25 children 3 to 15 years of age in compariso n with corticosteroid therapy alone. The adjunctive regimen of a once- daily application each of hydrocortisone 2.5% cream and of a water-in- oil cream was equivalent in efficacy to the comparative regimen of twi ce-daily applications of hydrocortisone 2.5% cream, Both treatment reg imens elicited significant improvement in skin condition by day 7 (p < 0.005) and further significant improvement by day 14(p < 0.005), No s ignificant differences between the two treatment regimens were observe d in the rates of improvement (p > 0.545) or in the reductions in mean lesion size (p > 0.98), No differences were observed in parental eval uations, except for ease of application where a slight preference was expressed for the hydrocortisone 2.5% cream preparation (p < 0.038), W e conclude that emollient adjunctive therapy offers a steroid-sparing alternative to topical corticosteroids alone in the treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis.