BACKGROUND Dermatoses account for up to 30% of occupational diseases. Of these, 90% correspond to contact dermatitis, a disease associated with a marked economic burden and considerably impaired quality of life. In 1989, Toby Mathias proposed 7 criteria to assess the relationship between contact dermatitis and occupation. OBJECTIVE To assess the Mathias criteria for establishing occupational ...

The International Contact Dermatitis Research Group proposes a classification for the clinical presentation of contact allergy. The classification is based primarily on the mode of clinical presentation. The categories are direct exposure/contact dermatitis, mimicking or exacerbation of preexisting eczema, multifactorial dermatitis including allergic contact dermatitis, by proxy, mimicking angi...

BACKGROUND Recent years have seen increased levels of production and consumption of seafood, leading to more frequent reporting of allergic reactions in occupational and domestic settings. This review focuses on occupational allergy in the fishing and seafood processing industry. REVIEW Workers involved in either manual or automated processing of crabs, prawns, mussels, fish, and fishmeal pro...

Allergic contact dermatitis is increasingly being recognized as a disease that affects children in addition to adults. Historically, irritant contact dermatitis such as ‘diaper dermatitis’ was a frequent diagnosis made in children, while allergic contact dermatitis was not considered a significant disease in this age group. Clinicians may have attributed this to children’s lack of exposure to a...

MCI: methylchloroisothiazolinone MI: methylisothiazolinone INTRODUCTION Methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone (MI/MCI) are broad-spectrum preservatives widely used in cosmetics and household and industrial products. It is well known that MI/MCI can cause allergic contact dermatitis with a spongiotic reaction pattern. Because of this reaction, restrictions have been placed on the...

Much occupational disease in Europe is skin related and is mostly eczemas, usually on the hands (Dickel et al., 2001). In Britain, there are 31 000 cases of skin diseases that are reported by the sufferers to be work-related (HSE, 2005). Occupational dermatitis is a well-known problem among hairdressers, as either irritant contact dermatitis or allergic contact dermatitis, or often a combinatio...

Allergic contact dermatitis due to fragrances usually manifests as subacute or chronic dermatitis because fragrances are found in a wide range of products to which patients are repeatedly exposed. The typical patient is a middle-aged woman with dermatitis on her hands and face, although other sites may be affected depending on the allergen and the product in which it is found. The standard patc...

Background: Hand eczema is one of the most common dermatological disorders caused by various exogenous and endogenous factors. The condition that is frequently multifactorial, usually disabling or distressing to the sufferer, and often difficult to treat Objectives: To study the clinical types of contact allergic dermatitis of hands and to correlate the allergens related to allergic contact der...

Propolis, also known as bee glue, is a substance collected by worker bees and it is used as a material for constructing and maintaining their beehives. It has been used topically and orally by humans for its anti-inflammatory properties. However, the growing use of propolis has been paralleled by reports of allergic contact dermatitis as a reaction to the substance. Contact dermatitis with gene...

Allergic contact dermatitis is a T cell mediated, antigen-specific inflammatory reaction of the skin due to repeated epicutaneous exposure to antigens. Immunologically it is divided into 2 phases, induction and elicitation phase. During the first phase which is clinically silent, naïve T cells are activated and differentiate into antigen-specific memory T cells. During the elicitation phase, af...