The effectiveness of an emollient as an adjunct to topical corticosteroid therapy for the treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis was studied for 3 weeks in 25 children 3 to 15 years of age in comparison with corticosteroid therapy alone. The adjunctive regimen of a once-daily application each of hydrocortisone 2.5% cream and of a water-in-oil cream was equivalent in efficacy to the comparative regimen of twice-daily applications of hydrocortisone 2.5% cream. Both treatment regimens elicited significant improvement in skin condition by day 7 ( p < 0.005) and further significant improvement by day 14 (p < 0.005). No significant differences between the two treatment regimens were observed in the rates of improvement (p > 0.545) or in the reductions in mean lesion size (p > 0.98). No differences were observed in parental evaluations, except for ease of application where a slight preference was expressed for the hydrocortisone 2.5% cream preparation (p < 0.038). We conclude that emollient adjunctive therapy offers a steroid-sparing alternative to topical corticosteroids alone in the treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis.