sodium-dodecyl-sulfate and Prurigo

There are no studies on contact allergy in patients with prurigo. With itch being important in the pathophysiology of prurigo diseases and being a symptom of allergic contact dermatitis, we aimed to investigate contact allergy in patients suffering from prurigo.. Exploratory analysis of patch test results in prurigo patients.. A retrospective analysis of data of the Information Network of Departments of Dermatology, 2005-2014, was performed.. Of 116 744 patch tested patients, 639 (0.55%) were diagnosed with prurigo. The median age was 61 years, 286 (45%) were pensioners, and 252 (39.5%) had generalized prurigo. The indication for patch testing was exclusion of contact allergy in 412 patients (64.5%), and 223 patients (35%) had at least one positive patch test reaction. There was no distinctive pattern of sensitization. Prurigo patients had significantly more (and stronger) reactions to the irritant control patch test with sodium lauryl sulfate than a control group (27.6% versus 21.0%).. Although prurigo is not a typical clinical manifestation of contact sensitization, our results indicate that patch testing in these patients may be helpful.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Distribution; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Austria; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact; Dermatitis, Irritant; Germany; Humans; Middle Aged; Patch Tests; Prurigo; Retrospective Studies; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; Surface-Active Agents; Switzerland; Young Adult

Ninety-seven patients suffering from a pruritic dermatosis were screened for the detection of bullous pemphigoid (BP) antibodies (ab) using the Western immunoblot (WB) analysis technique.. Twenty-four patients (25%) reacted at least twice with the BP antigen on WB analysis at a 1/10 dilution: seven had typical BP, four had papular BP, 10 had pruritus and prurigo of unknown origin, two had eczema, and one had lichen planus. This corresponds to 13% of BP-type ab in patients who did not fulfill criteria for BP. Therefore, we did the following: (1) tested a control group of 24 subjects; (2) assessed the reproducibility of the WB method by retesting the same serum samples on different epidermal extracts; and (3) estimated the BP ab titer. None of the 24 control subjects had detectable BP ab, and reproducible results were obtained in all groups when serum samples were retested at the 1/10 dilution. Although 86% (6/7) of patients with BP had BP ab titers of 1/100 or greater, only 60% (6/10) of the group with pruritus and prurigo and 33% (1/3) of the group with eczema reached such titers.. These results indicate that due to its sensitivity, the WB method can detect low titers of BP ab in patients with pruritic dermatoses who did not fulfill criteria for BP, and therefore we question the specificity of this method.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antibodies; Blotting, Western; Eczema; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Epitopes; Female; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Keratinocytes; Lichen Planus; Male; Middle Aged; Pemphigoid, Bullous; Prurigo; Pruritus; Reproducibility of Results; Skin; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate