Irritant contact dermatitis

Irritant contact dermatitis is a form of contact dermatitis that can be divided into forms caused by chemical irritants and those caused by physical irritants. Chemical irritant contact dermatitis is either acute or chronic, which is usually associated with strong and weak irritants respectively. The following definition is provided by Mathias and Maibach (1978): The mechanism of action varies. Detergents, surfactants, extremes of pH, and organic solvents all directly affect the barrier properties of the epidermis. These effects include removing fat emulsion, defatting of dermal lipids, inflicting cellular damage on the epithelium, and increasing the transepidermal water loss by damaging the horny layer water-binding mechanisms and damaging the DNA, which causes the layer to thin. Concentrated irritants have an acute effect, but this is not as common as the accumulative, chronic effect of irritants whose deleterious effects build up with subsequent doses (ESCD 2006). Chemical irritants are often strong alkalis as found in drain cleaners and soap with lye residues. Many other chemical compounds can also cause contact dermatitis. Physical irritant contact dermatitis is a less-researched form of irritant contact dermatitis due to its various mechanisms of action and a lack of a test for its diagnosis. A complete patient history combined with negative allergic patch testing is usually necessary to reach a correct diagnosis. The simplest form of physical irritant contact dermatitis results from prolonged rubbing, although the diversity of implicated irritants is far wider. Examples include paper friction, fiberglass, and scratchy clothing. Low humidity from air conditioning was found to be the most common cause of physical irritant contact dermatitis. To the lay person a definition of low humidity being a physical irritant can be confusing because low humidity is a deficit (or absence) of an elemental substance, whereas all other irritants implicated in contact dermatitis are in concentrations of relative abundance.