Is your accessory making you sick?

The whole fun of the party season comes from dressing up। However, those suffering from contact allergy dermatitis are not so fortunate and they develop inflammation, irritation, redness and itching, when they wear something that doesn’t suit them. Jewellery dermatitis can even take severe forms when not treated properly.

Jewellery dermatitis occurs primarily at ear lobes, wrists, hands, neck and waistline। The wrists may be involved because of jewellery or the backs of watches and bracelets all of which may contain nickel. Wrist bands made of leather (chrome tanned) are a source of chrome dermatitis, says Dr Sheilly Kapoor, consultant dermatology at Medanta-the-Medicity. Ring eczema beginning around the margins of ring is a typical presentation of hand eczema due to nickel sensitivity. The metallic studs in jeans may lead to periumbilical dermatitis in nickel sensitive persons. Inner wear fasteners can also cause a problem. The offending metals are primarily nickel and chromium. At times, you get dermatitis only in summer and monsoon, because you perspire a lot in these months, which predispose you to allergy.

Accessory wise:
Management consists of primarily avoiding the cause as far as possible although it is better said than done। Initially when the condition is not too bad, just using a moisturiser frequently settles the rash. The next step is to treat it with topical steroids. These are creams, ointments and lotions which contain steroid drugs. They need to be applied once or twice daily until the inflammation has gone. This may take couple of weeks or more after which topical steroid can be stopped. ‘Short courses of topical steroids are safe and usually cause no problems. Other treatments include an antibiotic if the infection sets in. Rarely a course of steroid tablets is needed if the inflammation involves a large area,’ concludes Dr Sheilly Kapoor.
Priya Singh