FOOTWEAR DERMATITIS

We conducted a study to determine the prevalence and clinical patterns of footwear dermatitis, patch testing 50 patients with suspected footwear dermatitis and 30 controls with 22 allergens of a shoe series (Chemotechnique Diagnostics AB, Malmo, Sweden). The overall prevalence among contact dermatitis cases was 11.7%. The dorsa of the feet and toes were the commonest sites involved. 70% of patients showed sensitivity to footwear allergen(s), as opposed to 6.67% of controls. Potassium dichromate and colophony were the commonest sensitizers. Other sensitizers were the rubber accelerators 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) and diphenylguanidine (DPG) and a dye p-aminoazobenzene. Of the 23 patients patch tested with pieces or scrapings of footwear, only 3 showed positive reactions. We recommend that there should be primary and secondary footwear screening series to detect the responsible allergens, with the ultimate objective of providing correct nonallergenic footwear for our patients, with the help of manufacturers and research institutes.