Patch testing for allergic contact dermatitis: Three years retrospective results in Tekirdag

Background and Design: Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to allergens in individuals who have been previously sensitized to an allergen. The causative allergens may change in time and may vary by geographic area and population. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the patch test results and characteristics of 169 patients-107 (63.3%) male, 62 (36.7%) female-, who received the diagnosis of ACD between 2011 and 2014. Results: The mean age of the patients was 41.06 years and the mean disease duration was 19.5 months. The most common occupation was service sector/housewifery (26.6%). The most frequent localization of the disease was the hands (n=105, 73%) and 50.3% of patients were skin test positive to at least one allergen. The most frequent seven allergens were nickel sulfate (n=50, 29.6%), cobalt chloride (n=23, 13.6%), potassium dichromate (n=22, 13%), sesquiterpene lactone mix (n=18, 10.7%), thiuram (n=10, 5.9%), clioquinol mix (n=10, 5.9%), and 4-tert-butilfenol formaldehyde resin (n=10, 5.9%), respectively. On the other hand, no patient, had a positive reaction to N-Isopropyl-N-phenyl-4-phenylenediamine, epoxy resin, balsam of peru, formaldehyde, quaternium-15, primin, tixocortol-21-pivalate, and fragrance mix-2. Conclusion: In comparison of this study which is the first report of patch test results of patients in Tekirdag-a city in Thrace region-and other studies that report patch test results in different regions of our country; it was observed that the mean age of patients in the present study was higher than in other studies and there was no significant difference in terms of occupations of the patients and localization of the disease between the eastern region and Thrace region. We believe that further multicenter studies in a larger population performed in different cities of the country are needed to specify allergen characteristics of Thrace region.