Atopic dermatitis in children
Dermatology Dermatitis / Steroids Clinical Symptoms and Signs




Atopic dermatitis in children

John L. Bezzant,M.D.

Atopic dermatitis often involves the trunk of children and imparts a sandpaper or rough feel to the skin. Children who have atopic dermatitis can have a sandpaper feel, but the skin itches, and they feel well otherwise. The skin of children who have scarlatina can look and feel like sandpaper, but the skin is often sensitive to touch, there is no itching, and the children are ill. I have seen both simultaneously in the same child, and usually it appears to be a flare of eczema with an accentuation of redness on the cheeks, sometimes a white coating of the tongue, and the child is ill.