CHICAGO – Chances are good that if your patient presents with eyelid dermatitis, allergic contact with gold or nickel is the culprit.
"Gold is not thought to be easily released from jewelry, which would be the typical exposure with eyelids, unless it comes into contact with sweat, friction, or abrasives," Dr. Amber Reck Atwater told attendees of a session on facial dermatoses at the American Academy of Dermatology summer meeting.
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Contact with gold or nickel, found commonly in keys, is a likely cause for most cases of eyelid dermatitis.
However, when gold comes into contact with titanium dioxide, a common active ingredient in many cosmetics such as eye shadow, patients are at risk for eyelid irritation.
"If I am wearing a gold ring, and I put this on my eyelids using my finger, the gold will be more easily released, and I will be more likely to get a reaction on my lids," said Dr. Atwater, of the department of dermatology at Duke University, Durham, N.C.
Nickel is another leading cause of eyelid dermatitis, Dr. Atwater said. She warned of the metal’s pernicious tendency to hide in personal care products such as eyelash curlers that do not list it as an active or inactive ingredient.
A simple and relatively inexpensive dimethylglyoxime test, which Dr. Atwater said can be purchased on the consumer market, can help identify items that may contain nickel. Rub a drop of dimethylglyoxime onto an item, such as a house key, with a cotton swab. If the key turns bright pink, then you know it has nickel in it.
"So you can imagine that if I am holding my keys in my hands, I could be transferring nickel from the keys to my eyelids," said Dr. Atwater.
Other potential sources of nickel include faucets, sunglasses with metal frames, barbells, and other weight-lifting equipment.
Other common causes of eyelid dermatitis are products that contain fragrance, including balsam of Peru, neomycin (typically found in antibacterial eye drops), formaldehyde and bronopol (preservatives that are found in certain cosmetics), skin care products, and topicals.
Allergic contact dermatitis in the eyelid can present in an upper, lower, unilateral, or bilateral fashion on the eyelids alone, but typically presents in combination with dermatitis on other areas of the face, or even other areas of the body, according to Dr. Atwater.
"You should be highly suspicious that it’s contact dermatitis when you see eyelid dermatitis with other parts of the body involved," she said.
When the dermatitis presents in the eyelids alone, other factors such as seborrheic dermatitis or aspecific xerotic dermatitis could be the cause.
"Still, a good 30%-50% of our patients will have allergic contact dermatitis when we see them with eyelid dermatitis alone," Dr. Atwater said.
The eyelids are particularly susceptible to irritation in part because the skin is extremely thin – 0.55 mm – compared with other facial areas where the average skin thickness is about 2 mm, Dr. Atwater explained.
"And it’s really easy to transfer substances from our hands to our eyes. People rub their eyes and their faces a lot throughout the day," she noted.
Dr. Atwater had no financial conflicts to disclose.
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