Inability to produce white dermographism in the early stage of infantile eczema.

Abstract

White dermographism constitutes an abnormal vascular reaction characteristically demonstrable in atopic dermatitis; however, there is no information about it in the infantile phase of atopic dermatitis. Therefore we examined 73 infants younger than 3 years of age with eczematous dermatitis for the demonstrability of white dermographism after mechanical stroking of the lesional skin. None of the 40 healthy control infants showed white dermographism on their normal skin. In contrast, an age-dependent increase was demonstrated in patients with infantile eczema, from 11% in those 1 to 2 months of age to 85% in those older than 7 months. There was no correlation between the demonstrability of white dermographism in early infancy and the prognosis of infantile eczema. Based on our study of various types of dermatitis experimentally induced in adult volunteers, we think that, in addition to the immaturity of infantile skin, the presence of acute dermatitic changes may be related to inability to demonstrate white dermographism in the early phase of infantile eczema.