Skin allergy is an allergic reaction to a typical harmless substances such as wool, pollen, soap or plants. These substances are called allergens. Skin allergies (also called allergic contact dermatitis) occur when your skin comes in contact with an allergen that your skin is sensitive to. Allergic skin rashes can have causes that aren’t due to underlying diseases. There are variety of factors which can cause skin allergy this includes immune system disorders, medication and injections when an allergen is responsible for triggering and immune system response then it is an allergic skin condition. Contact dermatitis most common form of skin allergy occurs when the skin has a reaction to something that it has touched.

Symptoms : may include

• Skin rash
• Skin redness
•  Itching

How long does it take to develop allergy :

It depends on person to person it may take few hours to days for skin allergy to develop. With treatment it takes 2-4 weeks to resolve.

Types of skin allergies :

Contact dermatitis :

Irritant contact dermatitis : Caused by chemicals, Poison Ivy (plant), insect bite.

Allergy contact dermatitis : Caused by air-borne allergy like Pollen, dust particles, smoke, animal dandar, fungal spores, house dust etc or contact allergen like metals, jewellery etc.

Skin allergy can also manifest as hives or swelling of deeper tissues. Skin allergies are not contagious and cannot spread by touching or close contact. They can be prevented by avoiding the triggering agent.

How to evaluate a patient with skin allergy?

It can be done by doing certain routine investigations like Prick test, Patch test (has many limitations, Its a hypersensitivity test to allergen like it’s very cumbersome, limited number of allergens can be tested) and blood test which is done by ELISA immunoassay. In this IgE antibodies are detected to a variety of food allergens, contact allergens and inhalant-allergens.