The aetiology of eyelid dermatitis in a series of 191 patients

Several studies identified allergiccontact dermatitis (ACD) as the most commoncause of periorbital dermatitis. Nevertheless,there is paucity of studies directly comparing therelevance of allergens in the eyelid dermatitis versusnon eyelid dermatitis populations.Methods. 1043 patients who presented with the clinicalsuspicion of ACD were patch tested in a 2-yearperiod. Patient demographics, clinical features, historyof atopy and results of patch tests were collected.Patch test results of patients with eyelid dermatitiswere compared with those of patients withdermatitis confined to other body areas.Results. 191 out of 1043 patch tested patients(18.3%) presented with eyelid dermatitis. Patientswith eyelid dermatitis were more likely to bewomen compared to the non-eyelid group ofpatients. The two groups did not differ as for thefrequency of atopy, including respiratory atopyand atopic dermatitis. The prevalence of ACD wasstatistically higher in the eyelid group (64.4%)compared to the non-eyelid group (49.4%). Themost relevant allergens in patients with eyelid dermatitiswere metals, preservatives and fragrances.Allergens resulting statistically more frequent ineyelid patients were methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone, nickel sulphate, disperseblue 124, dimethylaminopropylamine.Conclusions. Patients with eyelid dermatitis arelikely to have ACD, and need appropriate patchtesting.