Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis in Children with Bioapifit Anti- Inflamatory Herbal Ointment - a Preliminary Study

Objectives: The purpose of this work was development, formulation and testing of new herbal ointment for the treatment of mild to severe atopic dermatitis in infants and children (4 to 56 months old) as possible alternative therapy to standard corticosteroids and immunomodulants. Patients and methods: 50 patients were treated 8 weeks (every four hours) with the ointment containing the following ingredients: Avena sativa, Nigella sativa, Argania spinosa, Prunus amygdalus, Daucus carota, Helichrysum italicum, Calendula officinalis, Matricaria chamomilla, Bellis perennis, Lavandula officinalis, Achillea millefolium,Thymus serpyllum, Salvia officinalis, Symphytum officinale, Plantago major, Olea europaea, Melaleuca alternifolia, Cera alba, honey, and glycerol. The severity of the disease prior and after the therapy was assessed by SCORAD index. Results: The total score before the therapy ranged from 23.1 to 99.4 (66.50±23.43). Among the tested patients 76%, 20% and 4% had severe, moderate and mild symptoms, respectively. Following the eight weeks treatment the extent, intensity and subjective symptoms decreased significantly. The total score decreased more than 20 times compared to the initial values and ranged from 0 to 14 (13.18±4.29). The intensity parameters (swelling, oozing/crusting and scratch marks) as well as subjective parameters (itch and sleeplessness) disappeared completely following two months therapy. Conclusion: Two months of the topical treatment with Bioapifit herbal anti-inflammatory ointment resulted in complete remission of the symptoms in 56% of the patients while in another 44% of them only mild symptoms persisted. Such excellent results could be atributed to the ointment’s formulation containing emollients, strong anti-inflammatory, immunomodulating, wound healing and antimicrobial agents of herbal origin that simultaneously targeted the multiple mechanisms involved in AD pathogenesis. This ointment could be used as alternative therapy to the topical corticosteroids and immunomodulants. Key wordsatopic dermatitis, children, Bioapifit herbal ointment, SCORAD index