Contact dermatitis

Abstract

Contact dermatitis is a non-infectious inflammatory dermatosis in which pathological changes in the epidermis and upper corium characterize the clinical picture. Etiopathogenetically, it is an irritant or allergic reaction to contact with an exogenous noxious agent, often favored by an individual disposition. Regardless of the etiopathogenesis, similar clinical, histological and molecular changes can be found. Contact dermatitis - including special photoinduced forms - belongs, together with atopic eczema, seborrheic eczema, and nummular dermatitis, to the group of dermatitis or eczema diseases. These are common: about 15-20% of dermatological patients are affected. The nomenclature of dermatitis or eczema diseases is inconsistent, because neither an etiologically nor a pathogenetically reliable classification has been possible so far. The diagnoses dermatitis or eczema are often used synonymously, whereby the term dermatitis has largely established itself in the Anglo-American area. Traditionally, in the German version of this book, diseases with an acute course and rapid regression were referred to as dermatitis and those with a chronic course and a low tendency toward spontaneous regression as eczema, with transitions and intermediate forms occurring.