Allergic nickel dermatitis caused by shaving: case report and assessment of nickel release from an electric shaver.

Fig. 1. Allergic nickel dermatitis caused by nickel release from an electric shaver. Nickel allergy is frequent in adult Danes and dermatitis patients (1, 2). The high prevalence is mostly explained by consumer exposure to products that release nickel, e.g. watches, jewellery, buttons, zips, rivets and mobile phones (3–8). It has been debated whether classic dry electric shavers may cause nickel allergy and/or elicit nickel dermatitis. When performing a search on PubMed-MEDLINE, one article was retrieved (search terms: nickel, metal, razor blades, razor, shaver, allergy, dermatitis) (9). This article describes one case of severe allergic nickel dermatitis following exposure to a nickelreleasing shaver.