A new patient education approach in contact allergic dermatitis: the Contact Allergen Replacement Database (CARD)

BACKGROUND: When a patient is identified by patch testing as being sensitive to a specific contact allergen, he or she is generally advised to read the product labels and avoid products that contain the specific allergen. Patients are often confronted with difficult chemical names, synonyms, and cross-reactants for individual allergens. At the same time, dermatologists may spend a considerable amount of time trying to educate their patients about the avoidance of these allergens and explaining which products may contain them. METHODS: We applied a new educational approach to inform patients about products that are free of their allergens. RESULTS: We present a patient with multiple contact allergens in whom the Contact Allergen Replacement Database was used to educate about specific allergens. This approach has proved to be an invaluable tool for both physicians and their patients in contact allergy counseling.