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Dermbits

Is it necessary to routinely treat atopic dermatitis with antimicrobial or antibiotic therapy to get patients to improve?

Atopic Dermatitis

We know that one of the problems that's present in atopic skin is the decrease in antimicrobial peptides. So these patients are colonized with staphylococcus aureus, and they're prone to infections with bacteria such as staph aureus and even viruses such as pox virus. We don't necessarily want to use prophylactic antibiotic therapy because we breed out resistant organisms. But when patients are having some resistance to their treatments, we may want to add a course of antimicrobial treatment or directing against staph. Some people use bleach baths, but I think sometimes those are cumbersome, and I think the data is really not all that convincing if you look at the original articles. But if there's an infection or a concern, there might be heavy colonization, then a short course of antimicrobial or antibiotic treatment directed against staph aureus may be helpful.