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Contact Dermatitis in Plain English |
 Medical professionals love to use complicated words for sometimes very simple problems. If you go to your doctor with a skin problem and he or she announces that you have a case of allergic contact dermatitis, that sounds pretty dire. That is why it is good to take what our well trained medical experts tell us and break it down into plain English that the rest of us can understand. In plain terms, contact dermatitis is an allergy rash that is caused by coming in contact with something to the skin.
We make that distinction because you can experience an allergy rash that is not the result of an external allergy causes. The cause of your allergy is called an "allergen" by the medical world. So if you are allergic to poison ivy, and many people are, then poison ivy is the allergen and the nasty rash that comes up if you come in contact with the weed is allergic contact dermatitis.
If you do suspect the itchy rash you are suffering from might be the result of an allergy, the first step is to determine if the allergen is affecting you from contact or from some other source of the problem. Some allergy rashes may result from food allergies or allergies to airborne allergens such as pollen or ragweed. If you already are aware of such allergies that you suffer from, the allergy rash you are enduring may be an additional symptom of an existing rash. It pays to notice other symptoms to draw that conclusion. A contract allergy rash is probably not going to also bring symptoms such as nausea or nasal congestion. So use all the evidence when solving the big puzzle of allergies.
The diagnosis of a rash as the result of allergic contact dermatitis can be tough because the rash you get may look similar to other kinds of rashes. A typical allergy rash causes the affected area to become swollen and red. A troublesome itchiness and blistering sometimes occurs which is unsightly and sometimes even painful. If the exposure to the cause of the allergy rash (the allergen) continues to aggravate the rash, the skin will sometime get thick, dark colored and then begin to crack and become leathery.
The good news is that even an allergic rash can be treated with conventional skin creams. You may wish to consult with your doctor or dermatologist because there are topical steroid treatments and even oral antihistamines that can reduce the inflammation of the rash and speed the process of recovery. Above all, keep the affected area clean and moist because one of the biggest problems of an allergic contract rash is the dryness of the skin, which brings with it flaking, scaling and more itchiness. A moist compress can go a long way to reducing your suffering and speeding recovery.
As is true of any allergy problem, it is important to stop exposing your skin to the allergen and certainly to stop further aggravation of the affected area. If an area of your skin is reacting to an allergen with an allergic contact rash and the problematic substance continues to irritate the area, the rash will only get worse. That may mean isolating the area of the allergic rash from exposure to anything until it heals.
But long term, identification of the allergen and complete avoidance is the only permanent solution that can be had. If the allergen is something you use like make up, jewelry, cleaners or a topical product, then you should set about finding substitute products that provide the same value for you without the ingredient that causes the allergic reaction to erupt. This may take some research and experimentation to reorganize your life around new products that are not allergens for you. But to live without the pain and inconvenience of an allergic contact rash is reason enough to make that effort.
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