[Atopic dermatitis]

The atopic dermatitis (AD) is a multifactorial skin disease with complex aspects and a lot of abnormal immunological and non-immunological findings. The etiology of this distressing condition is obscure, but genetic, environmental and psychological factors, together with pharmacological, metabolic and immunological disturbances, both of the humoral and cellular immuno-response, are implicated in its pathogenesis. Only in a selective group of patients with AD the course of the disease can be influenced by allergological therapy such as elimination diet, environmental prophylaxis or hyposensitization with inhalants. In analogy to asthma and rhinitis, the author proposes to divide atopic dermatitis according to the allergological findings in three groups, namely in an 'extrinsic'-, an 'intrinsic'- and a 'mixed' type.