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Published on: March 24, 2023
Prevalence and trend of allergen sensitization in patients with cheilitis referred for patch testing, North American
Jonathan I Silverberg1, Manotri Chaubal2, Erin M Warshaw3,4,5
1Department of Dermatology, George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
Background:
An updated understanding of allergic contact cheilitis is needed.
Objectives:
To characterize clinical characteristics and allergen relevance in patients with cheilitis referred for patch testing.
Methods:
Retrospective analysis of 43 772 patients patch tested with the North American Contact Dermatitis Group (NACDG) screening series from 2001 to 2018.
Results:
Overall, 2094 patients (4.8%) had lips as one of three sites of dermatitis, 1583 (3.6%) had lips as the primary site and 1167 (2.7%) had lips as the sole site of dermatitis. Prevalences of cheilitis at any, primary, and sole sites significantly increased throughout the study cycle from 2001-2002 (2.7%, 2.2% and 1.7%) to 2017-2018 (7.8%, 5.2% and 3.7%). Approximately 60% of patients with any, a primary, or a sole site of cheilitis had one or more positive allergic patch-test reactions compared to 65% of those without cheilitis.
Conclusion:
Patients with cheilitis who were referred for patch testing had high rates of positive and relevant allergens. More than one in four patients with any, primary, or sole cheilitis had a positive reaction to non-NACDG screening allergens (28.0%, 26.8%, 31.1% vs. 21.6%) compared to patients without cheilitis, emphasizing the need for expanded patch test series in cheilitis.
