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Pediatric atopic dermatitis might result from an immune cascade due to impaired functioning of the skin barrier. Bolstering the skin barrier with emollients early in life potentially could interrupt this cascade, but researchers have noted inconsistent results for emollient therapy in preventing atopic dermatitis. However, these trials involved only high-risk infants, tested only facial emollients, or had short follow-ups. In this latest trial, researchers randomized 1200 infants (age range, 0–8 weeks; from primary care clinics) to emollient therapy, which parents applied daily to their child’s entire body or to avoidance of emollients. Specific brands of emollients were not reported. All families were given general skincare instruct…