Generalized allergic contact dermatitis after henna tattoo.

Abstract

A 4 year old child was first observed
due to itchy and crusty lesions on the left forearm, occurring
from 7 days. 35 days before the dermatitis, he
underwent in the same place a temporary tattoo depicting
Minnie with black henna.
The physical examination (Fig. 1) showed linear eczematous
lesions leading to diagnose allergic contact
dermatitis, to prescribe a corticosteroid cream, and to
program patch testing.
When 5 days later the child returned for the test, the
dermatitis had spread to the contralateral limb, face
(Fig. 3), particularly the ears, the low-cut, to the lower
trunk and lower limbs. Prednisone 0.25 mg/kg per day
was administered. The generalized dermatitis regressed
in a month (Fig. 2) and patch testing showed delayed
sensitization to paraphenylendiamine (PFD) and benzocaine.
The final diagnosis was allergic contact dermatitis
due to PFD.