2003 年 24 巻 2 号 p. 89-96
Patients with severe atopic dermatitis are sometimes seen even after 15-20 years of age, despite the fact that this is age when atopic dermatitis subsides in usual cases. We consider the possibility that steroid hormones administered as ointment stagnate in the skin and become oxidized cholesterols. Such substances may induce circulation failure and granulocyte-associated inflammation. We herein report the withdrawal of the above ointment in such patients, resulting in successful treatment within several months. Since they suffered from the withdrawal syndrome for the first two or three weeks, acupuncture was performed. Before therapy, these patients showed elevated levels of granulocytes and eosinophils, and an inverse decreased level of lymphocytes in the blood. The number and proportion of granulocytes are known to increase by sympathetic nerve stimulation. This, therefore, indicated that these patients were in a dominant state of the sympathetic nervous system. During the therapy, this leukocyte pattern became much worse due to the withdrawal syndrome. However, in parallel with the amelioration of inflammation, normalization of the leukocyte pattern was observed. These results revealed that, by some yet-undetermined reasons, patients with atopic dermatitis who had been treated by steroid ointment for long time, showed an unusual pattern of leukocytes (i.e., granulocytosis) and that this leukocyte pattern was normalized by the withdrawal of steroid hormones in parallel with the amelioration of the disease.
