Relevance of patch testing in patients of chronic spontaneous urticaria and its correlation with serum IgE level

Objectives: Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is defined as short lived (< 24h) wheals occurring spontaneously without any triggering factors, daily or almost daily for at least 6 weeks. Though CSU is mainly a Type 1 hypersensitivity reaction, earlier studies suggested contact allergy may have some role to play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of CSU. The objective of the study is to find out the relevance of patch test in the etiopathogenesis of and its correlation with serum IgE level. Materials and Methods: Thirty-one patients of CSU were thoroughly evaluated for clinical and laboratory parameters. We conducted patch testing with Indian Standard Series (ISS) in all of them and tried to find out the relevance of every positive reaction. Relevant positive cases were asked to avoid exposure for 2 months and were maintained only in breakthrough antihistamines. Furthermore, correlation of positive patch test reaction with high IgE and eosinophil count were studied. Results: Seventeen (55%) cases came positive for patch test. Potassium dichromate, lanolin, benzocaine, and fragrance mix were the most common offenders. Patients with very high IgE count had patch test positivity with multiple allergens. Seven of the fifteen patients who had relevant positive patch results could be followed up to remission; three were lost to follow-up. Conclusion: Patch test with ISS may give important clue to in a subset of patients of CSU and thus may be considered an important part of routine investigations of CSU.

Development of Poly Herbal Cream Formulations Containing Wild Growing Omani Medicinal Plants

Acne is derived from the Greek word “acme” which means “prime of life”. It is mostly considered to be benign and self-limiting condition but if it is ignored than it can progress to lifetime presence and scaring of the skin. Almost 85% of adolescence are affected by acne and from here males are at higher ration that female due to testosterone level that causes increase size in sebaceous gland which in turn causes more production of sebum (oil production). Women are affected more during adulthood due to imbalance of premenstrual hormones and over use of oil based cosmetics. There are many different factors that contribute to acne formation and it has many different forms. Herbal medication are considered safer than allopathic medicines because allopathic medicines are associated with various side effects such as like contact allergy, local irritation, scaling, photosensitivity, itching, redness, skin peeling, necrosis of the skin etc. In this study there are 3 herbal plants were used to prepare cream formulation that were used to investigate the anti-acne property. The aim of this research work was to develop formulations and to perform its evaluation as an herbal anti-acne cream. The objective of this study was to focus on the ant-acne or anti-bacterial effect of the formulated polyherbal cream containing three plants, Thyme, Aloe Vera and Basil. The results showed that the formulation 10 showed potential anti-acne property had that twice more concentration of aloe Vera than basil and thyme.

Contact Allergy Induced by Mango (Mangifera indica): A Relevant Topic?

Introduction: The most common clinical manifestation of mango allergy is contact dermatitis, which can be localized or systemic. The sensitising substances that have long been suspected are alk(en)yl catechols and/or alk(en)yl resorcinols. Methods: We reviewed the original articles published on Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane Library before 15 September 2021, on the topic of contact allergy induced by mango and we synthesized the key data. Results: We found 12 case reports and four case series, with a total of 37 patients. Only seven of these cases were reported in patients from mango-cultivating countries, the other 30 were from countries where mango cultivation does not occur, and 26 were also from countries where poison ivy/oak are commonly found. We found that contact dermatitis may occur on the first exposure to mango due to previous sensitisation to urushiol-containing plants. The diagnosis was confirmed by patch testing in some of the cases. There was great heterogeneity between the reagents used. Conclusion: Mango fruit is frequently consumed, but mango induced contact dermatitis, the main hypersensitivity reaction induced by mango, is rare. Further data is necessary for a better understanding of sensitising substances and, consecutively, standardization of patch test reagents.