title: Role of contact allergens in pompholyx.
abstract: Fifty patients of both sexes with clinically suspected pompholyx were patch tested with the Indian Standard Patch Test Battery approved by the Contact & Occupational Dermatosis Forum of India (CODFI). Most of these patients were young adults between 20-39 years of age with a mean age of 30 years. The mean duration of symptoms was 4 years. The occupational profile of the patients included students (20%), housewives (16%), housewives engaged in farming (12%), labourers (12%), farmers (12%) and paramedical workers (6%). The miscellaneous group, including salesmen, teachers and photographers, accounted for the remaining 22%. The clinical patterns of presentation of pompholyx included cheiropompholyx (60%), cheiropompholyx and podopompholyx (36%) and podopompholyx alone (4%). Patch test analysis of these patients revealed that, out of the 50 subjects tested, 20 (40%) reacted to one or more allergens. Nickel sulphate was the commonest offending allergen (14%) followed by potassium dichromate and phenylene diamine and nitrofurazone (8% each), fragrance mix (6%) and cobalt chloride (4%), in descending order of frequency. Hence, patch testing may be considered for all patients with recurrent episodes of pompholyx as allergic contact dermatitis may be relatively common in such patients and the avoidance of offending allergens may be of substantial benefit to these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Skin, V.D. & Leprosy, Pt. B.D.S. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Vijay K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Kamal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.forename: Shanta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Passi
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000485:Allergens / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017449:Dermatitis, Allergic Contact / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology; D011146:Eczema, Dyshidrotic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D010328:Patch Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens