“Hand‐borne” allergic contact dermatitis of the face to slime, possibly photoaggravated

Abstract

Homemade slime is a popular children's toy, created by mixing several household products. 1 Several cases of contact dermatitis from homemade slime were reported recently. 2 We describe a case of "handborne" contact dermatitis of the face due to homemade slime, which was possibly photoaggravated. CASE REPORTA 13-year-old girl presented with pruriginous lesions on the face which appeared 2 days before consultation. Dermatological examination revealed papules and vesicles involving the cheeks ( Figure 1A) and very mild hand dermatitis ( Figure 1B). The patient reported a similar episode 3 years ago after using cleansing wipes.Patch testing had already been performed, with a positive reaction to methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone (MI) and MI alone.Since this initial episode, she strictly avoided these allergens. Her parents reported that 2 days before the current lesions appeared, she played for the first time with a slime made by herself and then went into the sun. For preparing slime, she had used laundry detergent F I G U R E 1 (A) Papules and vesicles on the cheek; (B) discrete hand dermatitis; (C) laundry detergent ingredients (Nadhif) SAAD ET AL. 329 (Nadhif), a glue, and food coloring. The girl denied direct application of the slime on her face. Upon review of her slime ingredients, the laundry detergent contained MI ( Figure 1C).Therefore, we diagnosed "hand-borne" slime allergic contact dermatitis. After avoiding contact with slime and treatment with topical steroids (Desonide), hand and face dermatitis disappeared. DISCUSSIONWe report a case of "hand-borne" slime contact dermatitis of the face. Several cases of slime contact dermatitis of the hands have been reported recently. 2 Our observation is interesting insofar as our patient had only mild lesions on her hands and the face was mostly affected. The ingredients of slime are household items such as laundry detergent, shampoos, shaving cream, food coloring. and glue. 3 In our case, MI was found in laundry detergent; the exact composition of glue could not be retrieved. Recently, it has been demonstrated that MI can cause photoaggravated allergic contact dermatitis. 4 This could explain the predominance of lesions on the face of our patient, although we have not performed a photopatch test to support the diagnosis of a possibly photoaggravated contact dermatitis. CONFLICT OF INTERESTNone to declare. ORCID Ines Lahouelhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9625-7692

Effects of slime toy poisoning in children and teenagers

“…All reports are recent and included seven studies from 2018, five from 2019, and four from 2020 (Tables 1 and 2). [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Among them, seven are from the United States, whereas the remaining are from France, Belgium, Brazil, Switzerland, Turkey, Canada, Spain, and Tunisia, published during the period between 2000 and 2021. From the selected 16 studies, 5 reported more than one case of intoxication while the remaining studies reported only a single case.…”

“…30,31 Given that the risks associated with the development of skin reactions and immune responses are very unique between individuals, 32 the severity and clinical evolution of intoxications caused by slime varied from severe cases of difficult management to milder cases 13,14,18,20,23 of good resolution. 15,26,27 It is noteworthy that individuals who have suffered from previous episodes of atopy are more likely to develop atopic dermatitis and present more severe or intense ACD or ICD symptoms. 32,33 Despite this, most studies did not inform the existence of previous episodes of atopy.…”

Isothiazolinones Common in Children's Toy Slime

“…Since 2018, there have been 15 case reports or case series on slime dermatitis (Table 1). 1,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] The literature describes 21 total patients, including 7 (33%) with a history of atopy and 4 (19%) with atopic dermatitis in particular. Of these 21 patients, 18 (86%) were female, and all were aged 7 to 13 years (mean, 10.3 [SD, 1.7] years).…”