The back of your wristwatch may contain nickel, especially if it’s vintage. This metal, once widely used in making watches, earring, rings, and bracelets, is one of the most common causes of skin rashes. About one in every ten people wearing such jewelry eventually gets an allergic reaction.
There is an impressive array of other substances and material that can cause rashes in sensitive people. In fact, almost any substance coming into contact with the skin may cause reactions in some people.
A study by dermatologists in ten major medical centers has come up with a list of the most common causes of skin rashes. These include, besides nickel, potassium dichromate, commonly found in tanning leather and watchbands; antiseptics containing thimerosal or merthiolate; and the ingredient p-phenylenediamine, used in some hair dyes.
A skin rash can also be caused by perfume, which may consist of sixty or more components, including natural products and extracts from flowers, plants, roots, herbs, gums, and animals, as well as aromatic chemicals. Numerous medicines can incite rashes, too; for example, some women develop skin outbreaks from using vaginal medications. So varied, so individual, and so widespread are skin reactions that the Food and Drug Administration has set up a National Registry of Dermatological Reactions to Drugs to enable dermatologists to report cases anytime, around the clock.
If you get a puzzling skin rash, try to get at the cause by eliminating one possible suspect after another in things you use, wear, or eat. If that doesn’t work, check with your doctor.
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