Wednesday 7 March 2012

Allergic Contact Dermatitis - An Introduction to Allergic Contact Dermatitis

Allergic Contact dermatitis is a branch of dermatology and is defined as the inflammation of the skin that is caused by chemicals that directly damage the skin, especially by contact. It is the delayed type induced sensitivity that results from contact with specific allergen that the patient is not allowed to touch or rather he/she is sensitive to. The causes of this disorder, according to those who specialize in Dermatology, changes as time goes by and according to those who first described the disease, mercury was found to be the most important cause of allergic contact dermatitis.
Time has passed by and as technology advances, dermatology has been a subject of interest as it was discovered that mercury was no longer the important cause of the disease. There was another chemical, Ethylenediamine, which was found in the original Mycolog that was also believed to cause the disease. In fact, it was listed as the primary cause of Allergic Contact Dermatitis according to some Dermatology professionals, but after more research was done on the chemical, it was discovered that once mycolog was reformulated, it no longer contained the allergen although no one could understand how it was possible.
Chemicals that are known to cause allergic contact dermatitis have very small molecules that must bind to carrier proteins on langerhan cells, which are situated within the first layer of the epidermis. Dermatology has it that skin irritation by either allergenic or nonallergenic compounds triggers the cells to migration and maturation. Another chemical that equally plays a vital role in allergic contact dermatitis is the Cytokines, which is known to regulate accessory-adhesion molecules such as the intercellular molecules and this cytokine may be a sign of allergic contact dermatitis but not irritant contact dermatitis.
These langerhan cells are prone to migrate from the epidermis, which is the top layer of the skin, to the regional draining lymph nodes and there will be need for sensitization to the chemical and the best treatment for this chemical is the intact lymphatic pathways. The length of the initial sensitization is usually two weeks from the initial exposure to a strong allergen. The sensitivity to allergens ranges from one person to another. For instance, some individuals may develop specific sensitivity to allergens after years of chronic low-grade exposure that could be associated with chronic irritant contact dermatitis that could have come from alkaline nature of cement. According to specialists in Dermatology, this disease travels very fast: if a person is exposed to a chemical that the skin is sensitive to, AllergicContact Dermatitis will start developing within hours from the time of contact.http://www.allergy-zero.com/

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