Atopic dermatitis is a chronic cutaneous inflammatory disease, intensely pruritic, presenting frequent relapses, all these characteristics making it difficult to treat. The disease has an important impact on the patients' quality of life. Due to chronic evolution, the treatment requires a long-term perspective. More than 10% of the population has atopic dermatitis, most of them at a very young age. As time passes, the symptoms may disappear or, in some cases, it can take a chronic course, with periods of exacerbation. The complete etiopathology of the atopic dermatitis is yet unknown, the etiology being multifactorial. Recent studies have shown the importance of the genetic components. The most common factors related to atopic dermatitis are: the socio-economic status, the number of family members, polution, soaps and detergents. Moreover, there is a strong correlation between the impairment of the skin barrier functions, the environmental factors and the genetics ones. The diagnosis is based on the presence of some well established major and minor criteria, but the key symptom is the chronic pruritus. The main differential diagnoses that should be taken into consideration are: seborrheic dermatitis, nummular eczema, irritant contact dermatitis.The therapeutic strategies are based on the severity of the disease, a large number of treatment options being available nowadays, topic (wet dressings, occlusive dressings, topical steroids, calcineurin inhibitors) and systemic (cyclosporin, steroids, azathioprine, intravenous immunoglobulin, histaminoglobin vaccine). The moisturizers play an essential role in the treatment strategy, alleviating the pruritus, preventing the relapses and allowing a lower dose of topical steroids to be used. In some cases, phototherapy can be associated. If left untreated, the lesions may persist for an indefinite period of time, but in some cases there are spontaneous remissions, especially during childhood. Some patients may develop asthma or any other type of allergy. Moreover, atopic dermatitis increases the risk of infection of the lesions, which can extend and complicate, sometimes threatening the patients' life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]