“Contact dermatitis is a skin rash that’s caused by contact between a certain substance or chemical and the skin. There’re two different types of contact dermatitis: irritant and allergic. Irritant is when a chemical is simply too irritating for the skin. It could be a harsh soap. It could be simply water – washing your hands too often. That reaction usually happens pretty much within the same day or the next day between the contact with the skin and the occurrence of the rash or the symptoms. The other type is allergic contact dermatitis, which is an itchy, usually pink, flaky rash, that occurs typically at least the day or two after exposure to a certain chemical. This can be a preservative or a fragrance from a skin care product. It can be nickel or another type of metal, contact with jewelry or belt buckles. Things like plants, poison ivy is a common example of allergic contact dermatitis. There are many different things that can cause this, and there is a test that can figure out what the particular chemical is that you may be allergic to. It’s called a patch test. Typically, a dermatologist or an allergist does the test. Not every dermatologist does this, and not every allergist does it. So you need to find a dermatologist or allergist who specializes in contact dermatitis and in patch testing. An easy way to find out is to go in the American Contact Dermatitis Society website and look for dermatologists who provide this service. The test is a three-day test. We basically test for the most common chemicals – typically from skin care products, jewelry, detergents, and even clothing that can cause allergic contact dermatitis. The treatment for contact dermatitis is typically anti-inflammatory creams, like topical steroids and emollients.”
Tamara Lazic Strugar, MD, is a board certified dermatologist at Mount Sinai Doctors, seeing patients Tuesday-Thursday. She has a particular interest in eczema, psoriasis, acne, warts, skin cancers, medical and surgical treatment of skin disorders, and a wide variety of cosmetic procedures, including Botox, fillers, microneedling, chemical peels. Dr. Lazic Strugar is fluent in Serbian and Spanish. She knows basic Italian. Mount Sinai Doctors is an organization of clinical relationships and multi-specialty services that expand the Mount Sinai Health System’s footprint beyond the seven main hospital campuses into the greater New York City area.