Diagnosis of "Atopic Dermatitis"

Dermatitis is an effort of the skin to get over injuring agents. The use of the term "atopy" in the meaning of an inherited predisposition to develop immunglobulin E (IgE) dependent hypersensitivity reactions against to environmental allergens is not yet a century old. If one keeps in mind that the main function of IgE is to defend the host against to parasites, one may suggest that atopy is a feature, which has been evolutionarily gained to get over injuring agents, particularly parasites. The use of the term "atopic dermatitis" is even newer. Atopic dermatitis may occur at all age groups, may involve all regions of the skin, may be either localized to a particular region or generalized to the whole skin, and may be characterized by oozing, scaling and/or thickening of the skin. Many sets of diagnostic criteria have been proposed for atopic dermatitis. These are composed of numerous criteria. Therefore, their use is not easy in the daily practice. In the light of these informations, evaluation or absence of atopy in all cases with eczema is a more suitable approach than to make a diagnosis of "atopic dermatitis". It is more important to identify the injuring agents, which have triggered eczema.