Treatment of Contact Dermatitis

About the disease

Contact dermatitis is a condition, when skin comes into undesired reaction with chemicals, that are harmful for it. Most commonly, contact dermatitis manifests itself in redness and irritation of the skin. It rarely poses any danger if the contact with the chemical or detergent is terminated upon finding the source. It usually takes from several hours to several days for a contact dermatitis to subside.

Overall, there are three main types of contact dermatitis. The first one is allergic contact dermatitis, which develops when skin turns red in reaction to the foreign substance, which irritates it. Most common allergens which can cause allergic contact dermatitis are skin care products, that do not suit the individual type of skin of a person, jewelry, certain materials, such as latex and cosmetics, especially powder. Allergic contact dermatitis can also develop to certain perfumes. In some people, the reaction to the perfumes or the essence is so strong, that they develop contact dermatitis even if they simply talk or stand near the person wearing that allergen perfume.

Irritant contact dermatitis, which is second most common type of contact dermatitis, develops as a reaction to some toxic materials, such as acid, bleach and detergent. This type of contact dermatitis most commonly manifests itself in the redness of hands, which is where the contact with toxic material usually takes place.

The third type of contact dermatitis is photo-contact dermatitis, which develops if a person had exposure to the ultraviolet for a long time, thus irritating the skin.

Symptoms

• Redness
• Itching
• Dry skin
• Hives
• Burning
• Tenderness of the affected area
• Swelling
• Blistering in some cases
• Cracking

Diagnosis

• During a general examination, a dermatologist will examine the affected area and will determine what kind of reaction to an allergen it could be.
• A skin sample test is performed to rule out other causes of redness such as eczema.
• Allergy testing is used to determine which product a person has allergy to so that further contact with allergen is avoided.

Treatment

• In most cases contact dermatitis goes away when the contact with the allergen is no longer active. In some cases, however, the itching may be very strong. In such cases, a person can be prescribed special lotions and hydrocortisone creams to alleviate the itching and reduce redness. Anti-histamine drugs are sometimes prescribed to lower the allergic reaction of a body to an allergen and reduce the swelling.

Authors: Dr. Nadezhda Ivanisova, Dr. Sergey Pashchenko