Contact dermatitis is inflammation of the skin (rash) that may result when the skin is touched by irritants or substances that cause an allergic reaction. Contact dermatitis can occur from exposure to many different compounds found both in the home and at work. There are two types of contact dermatitis:

Allergic contact dermatitis occurs when skin, which has become sensitized to a certain substance (allergen), comes in contact with that substance again
Irritant contact dermatitis occurs when the skin is exposed to a mild irritant (such as detergent or solvents) repeatedly over a long period of time or a strong irritant (such as acid, alkali, solvent, strong soap or detergent), which can cause immediate skin damage
Common sources of allergic contact dermatitis
Not everyone reacts to allergens. However, some people will react to an allergen which they had previously tolerated for many years. Skin can become allergic to a substance after many exposures or after just one exposure. Most people will have an allergic reaction to poison ivy after one exposure, for instance. This is a delayed skin reaction that typically develops 12 to 72 hours after exposure.

Common sources of allergic contact dermatitis include:
Nickel (a common metal used in jewelry) and other metals. Nickel has been reported to cause contact dermatitis in up to 10 percent of women. Gold is also becoming a widespread allergen. This type of allergic contact dermatitis can begin with intermittent rashes under earrings or other jewelry.
Fragrances – for example, those found in perfumes, soaps, lotions, and shampoos
Cosmetics
Topical medications such as antibiotics or anti-itch preparations – these cause worsening of the problem and are often misinterpreted as infection
Preservatives, which keep topical products from spoiling
Sunscreens – commonly cause a hive-like rash that can appear hours or days after sun exposure
Rubber ingredients – a common source of work-related allergy. Rubber can cause immediate allergic reactions, such as itching, burning, or welts. Some people experience itching and tearing eyes or even shortness of breath.
Common sources of irritant contact dermatitis
Detergents, soaps, cleaners, waxes, and chemicals are substances that can irritate the skin. They can wear down the oily, protective layer on the skin's surface and lead to irritant contact dermatitis. Irritant contact dermatitis is most common among people who regularly work with strong chemicals, such as restaurant, maintenance, and chemical workers.

Symptoms of Allergic contact Dermatitis and Irritant contact Dermatitis:

Allergic contact dermatitis

Reddening of skin (either in patches or all over the body)
Intermittent dry, scaly patches of skin
Blisters that ooze
Burning or itching that is usually intense without visible skin sores (lesions)
Swelling in the eyes, face, and genital areas (severe cases)
Hives
Sun sensitivity
Darkened, "leathery" and cracked skin
Allergic contact dermatitis can be very difficult to distinguish from other rashes.

Irritant contact dermatitis

Mild swelling of the skin
Stiff, tight feeling skin
Dry, cracking skin
Blisters
Painful ulcers on the skin

Diaper Rash: Treatment and Remedies*
*Always consult your Pediatrician before treatment

If you’re noticing your baby’s diaper area looks a little red or irritated, chances are it might be diaper rash.

What is diaper rash?
Diaper rash is a common form of inflamed skin that may appear red or bumpy surrounding the area of your baby’s diaper.

Diaper Rash Symptoms
If your baby’s diaper area looks irritated and red, chances are it's diaper rash. The skin may also be a little puffy and warm when you touch it. Diaper rash can be mild – a few prickly red spots in a small area – or extensive, with tender red bumps that spread to your baby’s tummy and thighs.

If the rash also has reddish pink bumps surrounding a red patch in the diaper area or around your baby's mouth, it may have already advanced to a yeast diaper rash, which needs to be treated with topical antifungal medication.

Since your baby cannot tell you in words exactly what's wrong, he may express his discomfort through crying and irritability, especially at diaper-changing times, and possibly by a loss of appetite.

Diaper Rash Treatment and Remedies
To treat diaper rash, it’s important to change your baby's diapers frequently to reduce moisture on the skin. Here are some other tips to help treat your baby’s bottom:

Air out the skin by letting your baby spend a little time each day without a diaper.
After a bowel movement, clean your baby's bottom thoroughly and pat it dry before putting a diaper on.
Spread a thick layer of ointment containing zinc oxide or petroleum jelly, or one recommended by your baby's doctor, to prevent urine from reaching the irritated skin.
Consider whether you’ve recently changed the baby’s diet or anything else in the baby’s environment that could be causing a rash.
Call your health care provider if the rash doesn't clear up after a few days, or if blisters or pus-filled bumps appear.
Preventing Diaper Rash
While diaper rash is pretty common, here are some tips to keep your baby’s bottom rash-free:

Make sure you change your baby's diapers as soon as possible after they become wet or soiled.
Clean your baby's bottom thoroughly after each bowel movement and allow the area to dry, being careful not to rub the skin too much or too harshly.
Coat your baby's bottom with a thin layer of protective ointment or petroleum jelly.
When putting on a fresh diaper, secure it comfortably, not too tight and not too loose, allowing some air to circulate.
Consider using a disposable diaper, such as Pampers Swaddlers, which has thin layer of lotion on the top sheet to help keep baby’s delicate skin dry.
If your child is taking antibiotics or has diarrhea, keep a close watch on the diaper area and change diapers more frequently.
For more information, see A Quick Guide to Diaper Rash.

What else can cause a rash in the diaper area other than diaper rash?
What you think is diaper rash on your child's bottom may very well be another mild childhood skin condition. For this reason, it's important to recognize the difference between diaper rashes and other common ailments so you can treat each one effectively. Impetigo, seborrheic dermatitis, and prickly heat are the conditions most commonly mistaken for diaper rash.

Impetigo
A contagious bacterial skin infection that shows up in the diaper area and on the face and hands, with pimples and scabby, honey-colored sores that blister and itch. Because this condition is contagious, all family members should wash their hands often with antibacterial soap to keep it from spreading. If you see this type of sore, call your pediatrician, who will likely prescribe an antibiotic cream or oral antibiotic.

Seborrheic Dermatitis
A common skin condition that can affect infants in their first year. You'll find raised, rough red patches covered with thick white or yellow scales on your baby's groin, genitals, and lower abdomen; when similar patches appear on the scalp, the condition is known as cradle cap. Try applying an over-the-counter cortisone or hydrocortisone ointment to the affected areas, and keep your baby clean and dry. If the condition doesn't clear up soon, see your pediatrician, who may prescribe a stronger cortisone cream.

Prickly Heat
Heat and humidity can lead to prickly heat, caused when perspiration builds up on the skin and is unable to evaporate. Less common after 3 months, this condition looks like an acne breakout, with very small pink bumps, and can show up in the skin folds in the diaper area, especially where the plastic lining of a diaper or diaper cover touches the skin. Moisture and humidity are the main causes of prickly heat, so make sure your child is not overdressed and that his skin remains dry. If prickly heat seems severe, it's time to contact your health care provider.

Here's a strange fact that the air inside your home is actually 2 to 5 times more polluted and toxic than the air you breathe outdoors. Breathing in clean air is important and should be a priority.

Here are some tips to purify the air at home :-

- Increase Ventilation: Ventilating homes reduces moisture levels, a major problem for indoor air quality. Install trickle vents to purify and cycle the air or use exhaust fans which help carry pollutants outside. Ventilate your kitchen, since cooking, especially on a gas stove, can be a major source of indoor air pollution.

- Houseplants: Houseplants such as Peace Lily, Lady Palm or Broadleaf Lady Palm can purify and rejuvenate air within our houses and workplaces, safeguarding us from any side effects associated with prevalent toxins like ammonia, formaldehyde and also benzene. Helpful for people with respiratory illness. You should have at least 1 plant/100 sq ft of home for efficient air cleaning to be accomplished.

- Salt Lamps: Salt crystal products tend to reduce airborne irritants, pathogens and allergens by pulling water vapour out of the air. Himalayan pink salt is a natural ionic air purifier that pulls toxins from the environment and neutralises them. Additionally, the natural orange glow doesn't disrupt sleep hormones, so you can use them during night, too.

- Essential Oils: They are effective against bacteria in the air. In the presence of essential oils like cinnamon, oregano, rosemary, thyme, grapefruit lemon, clove, tea tree - viruses, fungi, bacteria and even mold cannot survive. You can add it to soaps and detergents to breathe fresher, cleaner air.

- Beeswax Candles: They act as natural air purifiers. They ionise the air and neutralise toxic compounds and other contaminants. Helpful for asthmatics and to remove common allergens like dust from the air.

- Activated Charcoal: Also called active carbon, they are natural air purifiers. You can use bamboo charcoal, too.

त्वचेवर निरनिराळया कारणांमुळे लहानमोठे पुरळ येते. काही पुरळ नुसते पुवाने भरलेले असतात तर काही पातळ द्रवपदार्थाने. बहुतेक वेळा पुरळाबरोबर ताप येतो. पुरळाची कारणे खालीलप्रमाणे
- कांजिण्या (पूर्वी देवीनेही याचसारखे पुरळ यायचे)
- गोवराचा आजार
- नागीण (या आजारात अंगावर एका रेषेत पुरळ येतात)
- वावडे किंवा ऍलर्जी
- त्वचेचा जंतुदोष
- एड्स चा आजार

रोगनिदान
प्रत्येक आजारात पुरळाचा प्रकार वेगवेगळा असतो.
- पुरळाबरोबर खाज सुटत असेल तर बहुधा वावडे (ऍलर्जी) हेच कारण असते.
- गोवराचे पुरळ तापाच्या तिस-या-चौथ्या दिवशी येतात. याचे पुरळ लालसर, मोहोरीइतके व शरीरभर सगळीकडे असतात. त्यात पाणी, पू काही नसते. आठवडाभरात हे पुरळ नाहीसे होतात.
- कांजिण्याचे पुरळ दोन-तीन दिवसांत पुवाने भरतात व नवीन पुरळ एकामागोमाग येत राहतात.

उपचार
पुरळावर उपचार म्हणजे मूळच्या आजारावर उपचार. वावडे किंवा ऍलर्जी असेल तर कोठल्या पदार्थामुळे वावडे आले आहे हे कळले तर जास्त उपयोग होतो. वावडयाचे पुरळ व खाज सीपीएम गोळीने कमी होते. त्वचेचा जंतुदोष असल्यास जंतुविरोधी औषधे (कोझाल) वापरावीत.

नागीण
नागीण हा आजार कांजिण्यांच्या विषाणूंमुळे होतो. कांजिण्या होऊन गेल्यानंतर काही जणांच्या शरीरात हे विषाणू लपून राहतात. अनेक वर्षांनी विषाणू चेतारज्जूतून एखाद्या नसेमार्फत पसरून त्वचेवर फोड निर्माण करतात. नागिणीची तीव्रता वयाबरोबर वाढते. उतार वयात नागीणीचा जास्त त्रास होतो.

रोगनिदान
हे विषाणू चेतातंतूच्या रेषेवर वाढतात. सुरुवातीस त्या चेतातंतूंच्या मार्गावर खूप दुखते. तीन चार दिवसांत तेथील त्वचेवर लालपणा येतो. पाठोपाठ पाण्याने भरलेले दुसरे फोड येतात. हे फोड छोटे छोटे व एकत्र पुंजक्यामध्ये येतात. पाच ते सहा दिवसांत वर खपली धरून वाळू लागतात. फोड गेले की दुखणे बहुधा थांबते. पण काही वेळा पुढेही काही महिन्यांपर्यंत दुखरेपणा टिकतो.

सामान्यपणे हा आजार बरगडयांमधील चेतातंतूंच्या रेषेवर दिसतो. कधीकधी चेहरा किंवा हातांमधील चेतांवरही परिणाम दिसतो. शरीराच्या एकाच बाजूला बहुतेक करून आजार होतो. शरीराची मध्यरेषा ओलांडून फोड पुढे जात नाहीत.
नागीण हा त्रासदायक आजार आहे. पण फारसे गंभीर परिणाम सहसा होत नाहीत. जर डोळयात फोड आले तर मात्र दृष्टी जाऊ शकते.

नागिणीसाठी उपचार
यावर ‘असायक्लोव्हिर’ हे गुणकारी औषध आहे. पुळया उमटल्याच्या दिवशी हे लगेच सुरु केले तर पुरळ लवकर बरे होतात. पण नंतर जी आग होत राहते ती कमी होत नाही. या गोळया महाग आहेत. याचे मलमही मिळते.

याबरोबरच रुग्णाला धीर द्यावा, आणि गैरसमजुती दूर कराव्यात. दुखीसाठी ऍस्पिरिन किंवा पॅमाल द्यावे. हा आजार काही दिवसांत आपोआप बरा होतो. नंतर तीव्र वेदना होतच राहिली तर संबंधित नस मारून टाकण्याचा उपचार करावा लागतो. त्यासाठी तज्ज्ञाला दाखवावे.

चिखल्या
चिखल्या हा आजार सहसा पावसाळयात शेतीत काम करणा-यांना होतो. याची सुरुवात पावलाच्या सुजेने होते (बहुधा दोन्ही पाय सुजतात). त्याचबरोबर खाज सुटणे, नंतर पुळया होणे व त्या फुटून जखमा तयार होणे या क्रमाने आजार वाढत जातो. या पुळया अर्थातच सूक्ष्मजंतूंमुळे होतात.

रोगनिदान
- उपचाराच्या काळात 8 ते 15 दिवस पाय कोरडे ठेवणे महत्त्वाचे आहे. यासाठी विश्रांती घ्यावी किंवा प्लॅस्टिकची पिशवी बांधून काम करावे.
- तोंडाने कोझाल व ऍस्पिरिनच्या गोळया द्याव्यात.
- जखमा असतील तर जंतुनाशक मलम किंवा लिंबाच्या पाल्याचा रस लावल्याने चिखल्या ब-या होतात.

प्रतिबंधक उपाय म्हणून ‘गमबूट’ म्हणजे उंच पायाचे बूट वापरणे चांगले; पण अनेकांच्या दृष्टीने हा उपाय खर्चीक वाटेल.