Contact Dermatitis
Allergic Contact Dermatitis
Overview:
Allergic contact dermatitis is brought on when your body reacts to something that you’re allergic to coming into direct contact with the skin. The substances that cause this affliction are referred to as “allergens”, and these substances don’t cause trouble for the majority of people. You may not even notice when you’re first exposed to the allergen. But once your skin is allergic or sensitive to that substance, you will develop a rash when you’re exposed to it. The rash may develop as closely to the exposure as a matter or hours, or as late as days after the exposure.
Causes:
Allergic contact dermatitis isn’t usually caused by substances like strong detergents or soaps, solvents or acids. Those are called “irritants”, and are harsh compounds that can affect anyone who comes into contact with them. Some chemicals can be categorized as either allergens or irritants, but allergic contact dermatitis generally occurs from contact with things that wouldn’t normally cause any reaction in the majority of people.
Symptoms:
How do you know if you’ve developed allergic contact dermatitis? If you have a rash that is persistent, you should check it out with your physician. If they feel that it may be allergic contact dermatitis, they’ll perform patch testing, where small chemical samples are placed onto your skin, to see if you develop a rash. Those areas sampled will be re-checked after two days and then again at one week.
Patch testing allows your physician to determine the allergen, so that it can be properly treated. Before this testing was developed, you would have had to take long-term medications that had many possible ill-effects.
When you suffer from any contact dermatitis (allergic or irritant), you can stay away from the element that is suspected, and check to see if the rash lessens or goes away. In cases of allergic contact dermatitis, you will usually see reddened skin patches or reddened skin over the body, along with scaly, dry patches, oozing blisters, itching or burning without visible lesions, swelling in the face and eyes, hives, sensitivity to sun and cracked skin.
Different people have different reactions to allergens, and some have no reaction at all. In some cases, you may develop a rash even if you have previously tolerated the substance. This is due to the fact that your body can develop a sensitivity over time. The more common sources of the allergic form of contact dermatitis include nickel, cosmetics, fragrances, sunscreens, preservatives, topical medications and rubber ingredients.
Prevention/Treatment
The logical way to prevent allergic contact dermatitis is to avoid contact with the substances that cause your skin to develop a rash. You can also wash your skin if it comes into contact with known allergic substances, and recognize poison ivy and poison oak, and stay away from them.
The treatment of contact dermatitis depends on the cause. Your physician may prescribe or recommend oatmeal baths, creams and lotions, antihistamines and cortisone-type creams. You may also be treated with PUVA, also known as photochemotherapy, which is the usage of ultraviolet radiation treatment in severe cases. PUVA is a treatment combining Psoralens on the skin, before exposing it to UVA light. Psoralens can be found in different varieties of plants, and they make the skin sensitive, temporarily, to UVA.
Allergic Contact Dermatitis generally shows water blisters, which range in size from tiny to large, as well as swelling and redness. If the blisters break, they may form scales and crusts. If you don’t treat the problem, your skin may become darker, cracked and leathery. Contact dermatitis is sometimes difficult to distinguish from many other types of rashes, especially if it is long term.
