Salt Water Therapy for Patients with Severe Atopic Dermatitis (AD): A Clinical Study

Abstract

Forty-six cases with AD were treated with salt water therapy at home. The patients included seventeen children and twenty-nine adults with severe AD. The salt water therapy mainly consisted of washing the skin with warm salt water while bathing. More than 60 % of all cases (28/46) clearly showed an improvement. In particular, the children (94.1 %) showed a good response to this treatment. Most cases complained of a mild degree of skin pain and dry skin from the salt water. The skin eczema gradually improved after this teatment, for 2-4 weeks, while the pain also gradually decreased. However, the presence of dry skin persisted. The above findings suggest that salt water therapy is a safe and beneficial way to treat severe cases of AD, which do not respond to other therapies. © 1995, Western Division of Japanese Dermatological Association. All rights reserved.