Nickel contact dermatitis in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil (1993-1994)

This work consists in an evaluation of the occurrence of nickel contact dermatitis, its distribution between sexes and in which parts of the body the dermatitis usually occurs. It was accomplished a two year (1994-1995) retrospective study of 404 patch-tested patients which had previous clinical diagnosis of contact dermatitis. The occurrence of nickel sensitization was 19.8%, 88.8% of these 19.8% were women and the rest, 11.2%, were men. The lesions were present predominantly on hands, forearms, earlobes and feet. The authors comment about possible variations of occurrence of nickel contact dermatitis in rural areas and/or tropical countries.