Oxidative stress in allergic and irritant dermatitis: from basic research to clinical management

Allergic and irritant skin diseases may be the results of representative inflammatory response in the skin. It has been established that inflammatory response includes reactive oxygen species, reactive nitrogen species, and free radicals. Subsequently, an imbalance between the oxidant and antioxidant components occurs; this is so-called oxidative stress. As various important roles of oxidative stress in contact dermatitis have been reported, controlling oxidative stress in these diseases could be a supplementary and/or novel therapeutic approach. However, there is little convincing clinical evidence that modulation of oxidative stress can be used therapeutically to modulate inflammatory response in allergic and irritant skin diseases. The reason for this discrepancy may be partially due to an insufficient understanding of the dynamics of oxidative stress in allergic and irritant skin diseases. This review introduces the importance of oxidative stress in allergic and irritant skin diseases from basic research to clinical management aspects. This review also introduces recent patents for the methods and compositions for the treatment of skin diseases with antioxidants. These methods may be helpful in treating allergic and irritant skin diseases through topical application of antioxidants.