Wide clinical spectrum of contact allergy

Abstract

The diagnosis of clinically manifesting contact allergy is based on 1) suspicion from the history and clinical features, 2) proof of contact allergy (patch testing), and 3) finding the relevance between the clinical symptoms and exposition to the determined allergen. The first step is crucial and depends on the knowledge and experience of the physician as contact allergy can result in different cutaneous and systemic symptoms and can range from mild to severe forms. In most cases the clinical presentation of contact allergy is allergic contact dermatitis – an acute or chronic eczematous reaction in the site of skin contact with exogenous chemical substance and surrounding skin. Overlooking might appear when allergic contact dermatitis superimposes other dermatitis or inflammatory skin disease with epidermis involvement. Other infrequent, topographical and morphological variants of the manifestation of contact allergy – airbone, ectopic, systemic allergic contact dermatitis or purpuric, lichenoid, pigmented, lymphomatoid, erythema multiforme and erythema multiforme-like reactions are intricate and can be easily misdiagnosed.