Key clinical point: Treatment with an emollient plus balm significantly reduced corticosteroid use compared with routine treatment with commercial emollients in patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis (AD).
Major finding: Until day 28, patients receiving emollient plus balm vs a commercial classical emollient used a significantly lower mean amount of corticosteroid (6.03 vs 9.16 g; P = .041), with corticosteroids being used on fewer days (37.5% vs 46.9% of days; P = .0256) and fewer times daily (0.55 vs 0.71 applications/day; P = .0203).
Study details: This single-center randomized controlled study included 119 patients age ≥3 years with mild-to-moderate AD who were randomly assigned to receive an emollient plus balm combination (n = 58) or a classical emollient (n = 61) for 28 days, both along with topical corticosteroids when necessary and as per prescription.
Disclosures: This study was supported by La Roche-Posay ( LRP). A-L Demessant-Flavigny, S Salah, and D Kerob declared being employees of LRP. H Zelenkova reported no conflicts of interest.
Source: Zelenkova H et al. Impact of daily use of emollient ‘plus’ on corticosteroid consumption in patients with atopic dermatitis: An open, randomized controlled study. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2023 (Apr 24). Doi: 10.1111/jdv.18947