What is Atopic Dermatitis?
This skin disorder is generally attributed to a malfunction in the body's immune system. It tends to occur in people who have a family history of allergies. Many children who get this disease outgrow it at puberty, but later develop dermatitis of the hands as adults. Risk factors may include exposure to tobacco smoke, Skin Infections, changes in climate, irritating chemicals, food allergies, and stress.

Symptoms
Skin (all or some may occur)
Dry Scaly Skin
Thickened skin
Red patches with weepy or thickened skin
Tends to occur on face, neck, upper trunk, wrists, hands, in the folds behind the knee and elbow
Itching -- may be severe

Cause
It is one of the cases of Eczema. Based on the etiology, eczemas are divided into two basic groups:

Exogenous - This can occur due to contact with some irritant or allergen

Endogenous - This group contains all other types of which cause and mechanism is poorly understood. Many factors like heredity, hypersensitivity, fungal infection, senile changes, venous stasis etc are implicated in various forms of endogenous eczema.