A study of the abnormal cutaneous vascular response in atopic dermatitis

Yoo, Jae Myung; Kim, Hong Jig; Whang, Kyu Wang

Abstract

The delayed blanch is one of the most discussed but undecided facets of atopic dermatitis as yet. At present, they favor the theory that delayed blanch is due to vasoconstriction, but it is not obvious whether this is due to "true" vasoconstriction or to the blood vessels being narrowed by the surrounding exudative edema, resulted from vasodilatation and increased capillary per meability. We compared cutaneous response of severe atopic dermatitis with that of age matched non-atopic individuals after intradermal injection of acetylcholine by means of naked eye and laser Doppler flowmeter examination, control group showed flare and wheals while at,opy group resulted in delayed blanch in addition to flare and whealing. The results of laser Doppler flowmeter examination revealed that, as compared to baseline, atopy group showed statistically significantly increase in spite of delayed blanch. We suggested that the delayed blanch may be not due ta va.soconstriction but due to the vasadilatation and aceumulation of edema fluid.