From the 1980s, the number of patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and other allergic diseases has been increasing in Japan. Of these, AD is far more highlighted by mass media than other allergic diseases. It is probably because adult patients with severe AD have been far more increasing in number when compared to other countries, and because there is a social problem concerning so-called “atopy business” that sells skillfully unreliable but expensive goods to AD patients who are disappointed with topical corticoid therapy. Characteristic clinical features of adult AD include persistent facial erythema, so-called dirty neck, and severe itching that sometimes make these patients hesitate to even go out. Although topical corticosteroids are still used as a mainstream therapy for AD, a new immunosuppuressive drug, tacrolimus, is becoming a first-choice regimen for skin lesions of the face and neck in adult AD. There are various theories to explain why adult type AD has been increasing. Of these, it seems important that the structure of houses and styles of daily life have been changing in recent Japan
