Treatment of atopic disorders should be designed to lessen, prevent, or eliminate the symptoms they cause. When avoidance of offending allergens by dietary elimination or environmental controls is impractical or impossible, hyposensitization may benefit some hypersensitivity states. For some atopic conditions hyposensitization has been shown to be effective. For others it is of questionable or no value. If physicians who treat allergic persons will familiarize themselves with those situations in which hyposensitization therapy is of clinical value, huge rewards will ensue for the patient and the community in which he lives. To fail to do so, or to ignore the abuses of hyposensitization therapy in the light of present knowledge is indefensible.