HYPNOsis in the Management of Atopic Dermatitis in Children and Teenagers

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory dermatosis, common in children. It causes pruritus and skin lesions that can have a significant impact on patients' quality of life. AD can be difficult to treat because of its chronicity, demanding local care, corticophobia and the financial cost of non-reimbursed products. Patients are often looking for therapeutic alternatives. Medical hypnosis is a therapeutic alternative via hypnoanalgesia induced by direct suggestions of comfort and skin soothing and via anxiolysis, by working on stress management and self-esteem reinforcement. Four studies are interested in its action in AD and seem to show a reduction in pruritus, skin pain, an improvement in the intensity of atopic dermatitis, sleep, mood and for some a cure of AD. These results are encouraging but limited by the absence of a control group or by the small population included. Therefore, we propose in a first step to evaluate the feasibility of an hypnosis program through a pilot study, designed in the miniature format of a future, larger scale, randomized controlled trial.