Contact allergic cheilitis secondary to latex gloves: a case report

The purpose of this report is to present a rare case of allergic chelitis secondary to latex in an elderly diabetic patient. There are very few reported cases of allergic cheilitis in literature. Most of the reported cases of allergic chelitis were secondary to cosmetics, tooth pastes or impression materials. Few cases of rubber dam induced allergic cheilitis and stomatitis reported.

Since the patient was diabetic on insulin therapy and belonged to the elderly age group, utmost caution was observed while performing diagnostic tests and treatment procedures. The use test was performed to detect the allergen (latex) because of short contact time to the skin surface.

The patient was followed-up for a period of eight months, complete healing of the lesions was witnessed. The patient has not reported of any lesions later.

Appropriate diagnostic test and interdisciplinary approach in consultation with medical specialists would be ideal for the management of allergic cheilitis especially in diabetic elderly patients.