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Background: Many patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) know that harsh rubbing of their skin might worsen their skin symptoms. They consider that the force they use to rub their skin when removing their makeup cosmetics should not be hard and their cleansing habits could worsen their skin symptoms. However, we presume that the force they use to rub their skin may still be strong and might worsen their skin symptoms. Aims: We characterized the effects of rubbing the skin of AD patients during cleansing of makeup cosmetics. Patients/Methods: A cleansing oil which has a higher cleansing ability compared the cleansers used daily by the subjects but required less rubbing force was used. We performed a 4‐week clinical trial of this cleansing oil on 35 female subjects who had mild AD skin symptoms on their faces. Each subject used the cleansing oil instead of their usual makeup remover without changing their other facial skin care habits. Prior to the study, and at the end of weeks 1 and 4, the skin conditions of each subject were evaluated. Results: Four weeks of usage of this cleansing oil significantly decreased skin dryness, scaling, irritation, erythema, and itchiness. Higher improvements were observed for subjects who had previously used cleansers with less cleansing ability. Accompanying those improvements, a significant increase in moisture‐retention ability and a significant decrease in transepidermal water loss were observed. Conclusion: These results suggest that many AD patients cleanse their face with hard rubbing of their skin because of the low cleansing ability of their skin cleansers and may worsen their AD skin symptoms without realizing it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical peeling of the skin is commonly used as a means to treat photoaging, but the mechanism underlying its efficacy has not yet been fully clarified. We recently conducted chemical peeling of the skin with glycolic acid and lactic acid and observed it at the ultrastructural level. No changes in the horny layer or the upper epidermal layer were observed but there was dissociation and vacuolation between the basal cells and increases in vimentin filaments within fibroblasts and endothelial cells were seen. These findings suggest that chemical peeling of the skin with this type of agent directly induces collagen formation within the dermis and thus directly stimulates remodeling of the dermis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Th2 cytokine inhibitor, suplatast tosilate (300 mg/day) was administered to 45 cases of patients with atopic dermatitis for 8 weeks. The clinical scores, peripheral blood eosinophil counts, serum LDH levels, total IgE levels, serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) levels, and serum IL-5 levels before and after the treatment were observed and comparatively evaluated. The results of this study were summarized as follows. 1) Temporary improvements were found in the severity score, itching score, and sleeplessness score. All evaluated scores decreased significantly for all observation periods at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after administration of suplatast tosilate compared with those before the administration. 2) In severe group, there was a significant improvement of severity score of lower limb. In moderate group there were significant improvements of severity score of head, face, neck and of upper limb. There were significant improvements of severity score of trunk and upper limbs in mild group. 3) The peripheral blood eosinophil counts and serum LDH levels significantly diminished compared with those before administration, but no significant difference was found in total IgE levels and serum ECP levels. 4) The serum IL-5 levels decreased after administration, however, there was no statistical significance. 5) The positive correlations between delta-severity score and delta-peripheral eosinophil count, delta-serum LDH levels, delta-serum ECP levels were found. 6) The positive correlations between delta-peripheral eosinophil count and delta-serum LDH levels, delta-serum ECP levels were observed. 7) There was no sign of adverse effects of the drug. From the above mentioned results, we confirmed the high efficacy of suplatast tosilate in the treatment of atopic dermatitis.