Abstract:

Background: Atopic Dermatitis is a genetic predisposed disease which usually has multiple triggering factors. It can be associated with other atopic disease example acute allergic reactions to foods, asthma, urticarial, conjunctivitis and allergic rhinitis, Therefore, the treatment aim at managing the cornerstones of AD including dryness, itch, infection, inflammation, and inherent barrier defects that are involved with AD because we unfortunately don’t have a definitive care for AD. In managing the cornerstones the use of emollients, oral medication (antihistamines) and phototherapy play a great role. Emollient being the best in every stage of AD as it hydrates and protect the skin if only used is correct was as directed by the dermatologist. This will help reduce flare ups and the number of admission in the hospital and referrals. Therefore much of the effort is needed in provision of education and knowledge to the patients.

Objective: To assess proper practice of emollients that are daily used by the patients which atopic dermatitis.

Methodology: A cross sectional study design was conducted at Dermatology outpatient at Bugando hospital Mwanza and randomly selected AD patients been on emollient therapy were selected for questionnaire. The obtained results were analysed using SPSS 21 program and the obtained qualitative data was summarized categorically.

Findings: The study showed that most respondents (65%) were using proper emollient as per directed by the Dermatologist. The factors considered to say it’s a proper emollient includes; emollient with neither fragrance nor colour, applied a lot with greasy and shining appearance at least two times a day the whole body. The ones who used non-fragrance emollient (86.6%), not coloured (94%), applied a lot with greasy and shining appearance (56.5%), the whole body (89.8%) and most applied emollient at least two times a day. Most reported use of emollient helped their skin with hydration (91.5%).

Conclusion and recommendations: The findings for this study showed that majority of the participants were aware on the proper use of emollients, and this is no doubt due to efforts put in by the dermatologist on educating the patients on the guardian. Thus it’s recommended that all other clinics should adapt this modality of providing education plus demonstrating it to the patients on how they should apply. Also, the aspect of personal preference should not be undervalued because it’s essential guarantee for the compliance of the patient. This will help the ones whom don’t use the emollient just because of the negative impact of a certain emollient and thus if this will be discussed earlier with the clinician, a good emollient will be suggested that won’t have negative impact.