Recommendations for a screening series for allergic contact eyelid dermatitis.

Although allergic contact dermatitis of the eyelids is a common condition, limited information is available regarding the selection of patch-testing chemicals for proper evaluation. The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate the relevance of allergens responsible for allergic eyelid dermatitis among a series of patch-tested patients attending our clinic at the University of Miami and compare these results to published studies in the literature. Data were retrospectively reviewed for eyelid-only dermatitis from clinically relevant patch-test evaluations performed between December 2004 and January 2007. Formaldehyde was the most frequently encountered antigen, accounting for 45.83% (11/24) of the cases, followed by nickel 33.33% (8/24) and balsam of Peru (Myroxylon pereirae) 29.17% (7/24). In addition, not only did we find a higher prevalence of certain allergens when compared with other studies, but we identified several relevant allergens not previously reported at other referral centers. The allergens found to be relevant in eyelid dermatitis vary among different regions. These data may help contribute to generating a standard screening tool to improve the detection and management of these cases.