[Allergic contact dermatitis caused by plants].

The proliferation of house and garden plants, some of them highly sensitizing, produced by the general improvement of the standard of living, is causing an increase in the number of cases of contact dermatitis from plants with both irritative and allergic mechanisms. During the past 12 years, we have studied 43 cases of allergic eczema caused by plant contact as primary sensitization which supposes 2.4% of the patients with allergic contact dermatitis attended in our Services. The majority of patients were women (65%) as opposed to 35% men while the ages varied from 12 to 70 years with an average of 44.5. Below the age of 25 there were only 3 cases (6.9%) 12, 18 and 20 years respectively. In the clinical study, as well as the profession, secondary activities and hobbies were also evaluated. Through localization of lesions, an attempt was made to determine how the patient came in to contact with the different plants. The diagnosis was confirmed by the use of epicutaneous tests, as recommended by the ICDRG (3). Some plants in a natural state were used but etheral extracts were preferred. In cases of photo-dermatitis, photo-patch-tests were carried out using standard photo-sensitizers and suspected plants. The plants found to be responsible were: Allium (garlic) in 11 cases, Frullania in 8, Primula (primrose) in 8. Compositae (composites) in 6, Pinus (pine) in 3, Umbelliferae (umbellifers) in 3, Philodendron (philodendron) in 1, Pelagonium (pelargonium) in 1, Citrus (citrus) in 1 and Chlorophora (iroko) in 1. The frequency of reactions to garlic and primrose is particularly interesting and their characteristics will be the object of a later study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)