A new article published in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology discussed that atopic dermatitis (AD) – a chronic inflammatory skin disease mainly affecting children, has no definitive curative therapyapart from natural outgrowing. The authors reported that AD is persistent in 30-40% of children. The epithelial barrier dysfunction in AD is a significant risk factor for the development of epicutaneous food sensitization, food allergy and other allergic disorders. Evidence suggests that prophylactic emollient applications from birth may be useful for primary prevention of AD, but biomarkers are needed to guide cost-effective, targeted therapy for high-risk individuals. This article summarized that in established early-onset AD, secondary preventive strategies are necessary to attenuate its progression to other allergic disorders such as food allergy, asthma and allergic rhinitis, also termed as the atopic march.