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Irritant Contact Dermatitis

  • Conference paper
Current Topics in Contact Dermatitis

Summary

The current concept of irritant dermatitis and hyperirritable skin is reviewed. Irritant dermatitis is at least as frequent as allergic contact dermatitis, although reliable data are still very limited. Irritant contact dermatitis is a non-immunologic inflammatory reaction of the skin. The acute type usually only has a single cause, whereas chronic cumulative insult dermatitis is a multifactorial disease. Toxic chemicals (irritants) are the major cause, but mechanical, thermal, and climatic influences are important cofactors. Wet work, detergents and organic solvents are the major causes of irritation. The clinical spectrum of irritant contact dermatitis is much more variable than that of allergic contact dermatitis and ranges from drying and scaling of the stratum corneum to erythema, edema, whealing, papules, and pustules up to a full eczematous condition virtually indistinguishable from allergic contact dermatitis.

Individual susceptibility to irritants is extremely variable. Individuals with dry or hyperirritable skin, particularly atopics, are prone to develop a cumulative insult dermatitis. Subjects with hyperirritable skin have a thin and/or permeable stratum corneum with a small surface area of corneocytes. The effects of irritants on cutaneous targets are extremely variable and depend on the type of chemical, concentration, and mode of exposure. Inflammatory mechanisms include damage of cellular membranes, release of lysosomal enzymes, degranalution of mast cells, activation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and release of prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and kinins.

Useful techniques for the quantification of the irritant response are the measurement of transepidermal water loss by evaporimetry and the cutaneous blood flow by laser Doppler flowmetry.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, University of Heidelberg, 6900, Heidelberg, Germany

    P. J. Frosch

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  1. P. J. Frosch
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hautklinik der Universität Heidelberg, Voßstraße 2, 6900, Heidelberg 1, Germany

    Peter Frosch

  2. Department of Medical Research (Dermatology), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    A. Dooms-Goossens P.Ph., Ph.D.

  3. Unit and Laboratory of Occupational and Environmental Dermatology, Catholic University of Louvain, 30, Clos Chapelle-aux-Champs, UCL 3033, 1200, Brussels, Belgium

    J.-M. Lachapelle M. D. (Professor of Dermatology) (Professor of Dermatology)

  4. St. John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Lisle Street, London, WC2H 7BJ, Great Britain

    R. J. G. Rycroft

  5. Department of Pathology, Free University Hospital, de Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    R. J. Scheper

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Frosch, P.J. (1989). Irritant Contact Dermatitis. In: Frosch, P., Dooms-Goossens, A., Lachapelle, JM., Rycroft, R.J.G., Scheper, R.J. (eds) Current Topics in Contact Dermatitis. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74299-6_80

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74299-6_80

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74301-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74299-6

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