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Increasing Adherence with Topical Agents for Atopic Dermatitis

  • Therapy in Practice
  • Published:
American Journal of Clinical Dermatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an intensely pruritic dermatosis that develops most commonly during early infancy and childhood and may follow a chronic, relapsing course into adulthood. As a chronic disease, AD requires treatment over an extended period of time, and is therefore difficult to treat. The main difficulty stems from poor adherence to treatment by patients for reasons such as frustration with medication efficacy, inconvenience, and fear of side effects. Methods that improve adherence include creating therapeutic plans with patient preferences in mind, early follow-up visit, increasing patient education through workshops, and discussing with patients and their caretakers their fears about treatment methods. AD can be exceedingly detrimental to a patient’s quality of life. Simple measures to improve adherence may improve patients’ treatment outcomes and quality of life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Dermatology Research, Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Nupur U. Patel, Veronica D’Ambra & Steven R. Feldman

  2. Department of Pathology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Steven R. Feldman

  3. Department of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Steven R. Feldman

Authors
  1. Nupur U. Patel
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  2. Veronica D’Ambra
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  3. Steven R. Feldman
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Correspondence to Steven R. Feldman.

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Funding

The Center for Dermatology Research is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Galderma Laboratories, L.P.

Conflict of interest

Dr. Feldman is a speaker for Janssen and Taro, is a consultant and speaker for Galderma, Stiefel/GlaxoSmithKline, Abbott Laboratories, and Leo Pharma Inc., and has received grants from Galderma, Janssen, Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Stiefel/GlaxoSmithKline, Celgene and Anacor. He is a consultant for Amgen, Baxter, Caremark, Gerson Lehrman Group, Guidepoint Global, Hanall Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Kikaku, Lilly, Merck & Co Inc., Merz Pharmaceuticals, Mylan, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Inc, Qurient, Regeneron, Sanofi, Suncare Research, and Xenoport, and is on an advisory board for Pfizer Inc. Dr. Feldman is the founder of, and holds stock in, Causa Research, and also holds stock and is majority owner in Medical Quality Enhancement Corporation. He receives royalties from UpToDate and Xlibris. Nupur Patel and Veronica D’Ambra have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Patel, N.U., D’Ambra, V. & Feldman, S.R. Increasing Adherence with Topical Agents for Atopic Dermatitis. Am J Clin Dermatol 18, 323–332 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40257-017-0261-5

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