Systemic treatment of atopic dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, non-contagious inflammatory, intensively pruritic skin disease with characteristic signs of eczema, affecting up to 20% children. Systemic treatment should be limited to severe cases refractory to the topical steroid therapy. An effective immunosupressive treatment for chronic moderate-to-severe AD includes corticosteroids, cyclosporine, azathioprine, interferon-gamma, methotrexate, mycophenolate mofetil and newer biologic immunomodulators. The knowledge of traditional and alternative immunosupressive drugs can be helpful in choosing an effective therapy with minimum undesirable side-effects.