Standard Patch Test Results in Patients with Contact Dermatitis

Bae, You In; Han, Jung Hyun; Yun, Sook Jung; Lee, Jee Bum; Kim, Seong Jin; Lee, Seung Chul; Won, Young Ho

Abstract

BACKGROUND
A number of skin manifestations in patients with allergic contact dermatitis result from sensitization with specific allergens. The patch test is a primary diagnostic tool for identifying allergens causing allergic contact dermatitis.
OBJECTIVE
We identified the results of patch test with Korean standard series in patients with clinically diagnosed with contact dermatitis, and evaluated the specific relationship with each allergen.
METHODS
During a 5-year period, 743 patients were examined with patch test of standard Korean series. The results of patch test were then evaluated. Location of the skin lesion, age, sex, and occupation of the patients were completely reviewed.
RESULTS
Overall, 68.5% of patients had at least one positive reaction and 43.6% of patients had two or more positive reactions. Allergens most frequently causing positive reactions were nickel sulfate (27.1%), cobalt chloride (22.1%), potassium dichromate (17.9%), mercuric ammonium chloride (13.8%), and 4-phenyledediamine base (10.2%). Those patients in their 10s and 40s showed the highest rate of positive reaction. Metal allergens displayed higher positive rates than any other standard allergens. Of 201 patients who showed positive reaction to nickel, 37.8% and 27.3% of them also showed positive reaction to cobalt and chromium, respectively, representing concomitant reactions between metal-related antigens. In addition, polysensitization to cosmetics-related antigens including balsam peru and fragnance mix was evident.
CONCLUSION
There was no significant difference in overall positive rate in patch test results compared with recent studies. However, we confirmed that metal-related allergens remain most common, and that multiple contact allergy were relatively common.