This blog is written by our clinicians and aims to keep patients informed with up to date information on medical conditions.
Earlier in the year the British Association of Dermatologists warned over an epidemic of contact allergies stemming from use of nail varnishes and gels. Whilst having attractive looking nails, have you ever wondered what is causing that rash on your face?
Allergic Contact Dermatitis is a form of eczema caused by a delayed allergic reaction to a material or chemical (the allergen) that is in contact with the skin.
Examples of allergens causing contact dermatitis:
Sufferers may have been in contact with the allergen for years without it causing Allergic Contact Dermatitis, and only tiny quantities of an allergen are needed to cause Allergic Contact Dermatitis.
The skin acts as a natural barrier keeping millions of allergens out of the body and away for your immune system, so if the skin barrier is impaired (e.g. leg ulcers / long term eczema etc) those people are more prone to Allergic Contact Dermatitis.
Nail cosmetics include:
The chemical most responsible for allergic reactions to nail varnish/polish is the preservative tosylamide formaldehyde resin which can be in high quantities in base coats to improve glueing to the nail surface.
In a study by the North American Contact Dermatitis Group (NACDG)1, tosylamide formaldehyde resin was found to be the eight most common ingredient causing allergic contact dermatitis in patients with a cosmetic allergy. Although a small amount of free formaldehyde may be found in tosylamide formaldehyde resin it appears that most who react to this resin do not also have a formaldehyde allergy.
Allergic reaction is most commonly due to wet nail enamel but some patients may also react to the dried enamel. Other reported cases of dermatitis to nail enamels include allergy to the solvent butyl acetate and discolouration of the nail surface (especially around the cuticle area) caused by colourants.
Individuals with sensitivity to certain chemicals found in nail cosmetics may get allergic and/or irritant contact dermatitis reactions. Fingers may be affected, but more often than not dermatitis develops around the eyelids, in and behind the ears, around the mouth and chin, sides of the neck, basically anywhere that your hand frequently touches.
Allergic reactions to nail cosmetics around the fingers usually appear as redness and swelling of the fingertips. Other affected areas show a typical allergic contact dermatitis reaction – intense swelling and redness of the area within a few hours, or a rash may appear after a day or two following contact. The affected skin may be red, swollen and blistered or dry and bumpy.
Nail varnish Allergic Contact Dermatitis should clear quickly once the allergen = polish is removed. Steroid creams with or without an antibiotic may speed up recovery.
Management of Allergic Contact Dermatitis from nail cosmetics on other parts of the body should be treated in the normal way that you would for eczema e.g. topical corticosteroids and emollients/moisturisers.
The best way is by avoiding all products that contain the allergen you are sensitive to.
Hypoallergenic nail enamels that use polyester resin or cellulose acetate butyrate may be an alternative, but sensitivity is still possible. These alternatives are also less durable and scratch-resistant than varnishes made with tosylamide formaldehyde resin.
ROC Clinic London and ROC Clinic Aberdeen are able to run patch tests against 35 of the commonest ACD-causing allergens (using the recommended European Baseline Series), over the course of 1 week, inclusive of 3 appointments with our Private GPs.
1Fransway et al, North American Contact Dermatitis Group patch test results for 2007-2008. Dermatitis. 2013 Jan-Feb;24(1):10-21.
In England we are registered with the Care Quality Commission. For our full report please click the link below.
In Scotland we are regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland. For our report please click the link below.
Copyright © 2024 ROC Private Clinic | Privacy Policy | Contact
CQC Registration No 1-17052847559 | HIS Registration No 00413
Duty of Candour Annual Report 2023
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
AnalyticsSyncHistory | 1 month | No description |
li_gc | 2 years | No description |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_fbp | 3 months | This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website. |
fr | 3 months | Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. |
IDE | 1 year 24 days | Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. |
test_cookie | 15 minutes | The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__hstc | 1 year 24 days | This is the main cookie set by Hubspot, for tracking visitors. It contains the domain, initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session). |
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_gat_UA-19477224-1 | 1 minute | A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. |
_gcl_au | 3 months | Provided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
hubspotutk | 1 year 24 days | HubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of the visitors to the website. This cookie is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__cf_bm | 30 minutes | This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. |
__hssc | 30 minutes | HubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of sessions and to determine if HubSpot should increment the session number and timestamps in the __hstc cookie. |
bcookie | 2 years | LinkedIn sets this cookie from LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags to recognize browser ID. |
bscookie | 2 years | LinkedIn sets this cookie to store performed actions on the website. |
lang | session | LinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting. |
lidc | 1 day | LinkedIn sets the lidc cookie to facilitate data center selection. |
UserMatchHistory | 1 month | LinkedIn sets this cookie for LinkedIn Ads ID syncing. |