Red patches of atopic dermatitis in adults often appear on the face, neck, hands.
“The disease then has a considerable impact, with a serious disturbance of the self-image, because of the redness and itching on the face.
In addition, reaching the hands can lead to difficulties in daily life,
underlines Sébastien Barbarot, from Nantes University Hospital, sometimes with depression, anxiety, social exclusion, marital difficulties… ”
Atopic dermatitis strikes 2-5% of adults.
"It is possible that the disease is turned off for a long time and resurface for example during a pregnancy, stress"
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explains the Pr Barbarot
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This condition is not easy to recognize in adults and can be confused with contact eczema for example… As with children, it occurs on a favorable genetic background.
Here again, hygiene care requires non-detergent soaps and specific emollient creams.
Phototherapy, immunosuppressants ...
The basic treatment is also based on local corticosteroid therapy.
In severe forms, which sometimes seriously affect the lives of patients, other drugs may be necessary.
"For severe forms, phototherapy may be an option," describes Professor Barbarot. Oral immunosuppressive drugs are also prescribed, such as ciclosporin or methotrexate. But the big revolution is biotherapies, monoclonal antibodies capable of regulating the immune response. The first drug to be approved for severe atopic dermatitis is dupilimab. “Used as an injection twice a month, it has transformed the lives of seriously ill patients with relatively few side effects,” comments Pr Barbarot.
These biotherapies are expensive (18,000 euros per year and per patient) and are reimbursed only after failure of other treatments. After twenty years without therapeutic progress, several other innovative molecules are arriving on the market against severe forms of atopic dermatitis.