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Skin Allergies And Contact Dermatitis: The Basics

Something touches your skin, and your immune system thinks it’s under attack. It overreacts and sends antibodies to help fight the invader, called an allergen. The result is a red, itchy rash where the substance landed.

Your doctor calls this contact dermatitis. There are two types:

Irritant contact dermatitis is caused by chemicals like harsh cleaners.
Allergic contact dermatitis is just like it sounds — your body reacts to an allergy trigger.
People who have allergies react to things that wouldn’t bother most others.Anything from plants like poison ivy to dyes and fragrances found in everyday products might be allergens.

You could also have an allergic reaction to something in the air that settles on your skin, like pollen, chemical sprays, powders, fibers, or cigarette smoke. This is called airborne contact dermatitis, and it mostly happens on your eyelids, head, and neck. It can be hard for doctors to diagnose because it doesn’t look that different from the other type.

Skin allergies can also cause hives and swelling deep in your skin, called angioedema.

If you can’t avoid contact with an allergy trigger, you can usually treat the rash and ease the itching. And you can’t pass it to anyone else.

What Causes Skin Allergies?
It takes at least 10 days to become sensitive to something after your first contact with it. You might even be able to touch something for years before you have an allergic reaction to it.

But once you develop an allergy, you could have a reaction within a few minutes of coming into contact with it. Or it might take a day or two.

The most common causes of skin allergies include:

Nickel, a metal used in jewelry and snaps on jeans, makeup, lotions, soaps, and shampoos
Sunscreens and bug sprays
Medications you put on your skin, like antibiotics or anti-itch creams
Fragrances
Cleaning products
Plants, including poison ivy
Latex, which is used in stretchy things like plastic gloves, elastic in clothing, condoms, and balloons
Chemicals
You’re more likely to have certain skin allergies if you a have skin condition like eczema (your doctor may call it atopic dermatitis), inflammation in your lower legs because of poor circulation, itching in your private parts, or you often get swimmer’s ear.

How do I Find Out What I’m Allergic To?
Your doctor can check to see what you’re reacting to, but finding the exact cause may be hard. Skin tests can only show what you’re sensitive to. They can’t tell what touched your skin in a specific spot on a specific day.

Doctors often use the TRUE test. It’s a pre-packaged set of three panels that your doctor will stick to your back. Each is smaller than a dollar bill and has 12 patches with samples of possible allergens. You wear them for 2 days. Then the doctor takes them off to see if you’ve had any reactions. You might need to come back a few more times, since some reactions could show up as many as 10 days later.

You might be allergic to something that isn’t in the standard TRUE test. To figure that out, your doctor may do more patch testing. He’ll choose substances you might contact in your work, home, or hobbies.

If you have a mild reaction in any patch test, you might need to follow up with a ROAT test. It works a lot like the TRUE test, but you do it yourself. Put the suspected allergen, say, sunscreen, on your skin during the day in the same spot over several days. This can help confirm or rule out your sensitivity.

The dimethylglyoxime test looks for metal objects that have enough nickel to cause a reaction. Your doctor can test things in the office, or you can buy a kit to test jewelry and other items yourself.