Severe toxic contact dermatitis caused by garlic

Garlic (Allium sativum L.): Adverse effects and drug interactions in humans

“…Cases of occupational allergic contact dermatitis include eczematous eruption on the finger-tips of the left hand in a 24 year old cook [48]; hand dermatitis in a 49 year old Italian fitter and turner with a regular contact with garlic during food preparation [49]; sub-erythrodermic eczematous reaction in a 54 year old Asian man who had been in periodic contact with pure garlic powder in the preceding seven months [50]; eczematous rash over both forearms in a 51 year old woman two months after coming into contact with garlic [51]; eczema of the hands in three cooks [52]; eczema in three cooks who showed positive reactions to piece of garlic and onion [53]; burning sensation, rush and swelling of the left hand in a 42 year old female cook [54]; itchy eruption affecting the fingertips of a 48 year old right-hander maintenance carpenter, who did the household cooking approximately 4 -5 nights per week [55]; itching, fissuring and redness of the fingertips in a 41 year old Chinese janitor [56].…”

Effect of garlic on cardiovascular disorders: a review

“…A survey by Koch (1995) showed that allergic reactions to garlic were reported in a total of 39 publications between 1938 and 1994 [171]. Most of these cases involved an allergic contact dermatitis, sometimes severe [172], which has been reported in people with occupational exposure to garlic. There have also been sporadic reports of allergic conjunctivitis, rhinitis, or bronchospasms occurring in response to garlic inhalation or ingestion [173,174].…”

Plants and Plant Products

“…A typical presentation is a circumscribed irritable hyperkeratotic eczema on the fingers of one or both hands; sometimes the thumb, index and middle fingers of the nondominant (usually left) hand which may be used to grasp the garlic bulb whilst the knife is held in the right hand [79]. Less distinct patterns of eczema are likely more frequent than the presentation described above, but remarkable situations can occur, such as haemorrhagic and blistering contact dermatitis [80], cheiropompholyx associated with the ingestion of garlic extract [81], dermatitis of the elbow flexures, lower back and periorbital regions with cheilitis [82], or airborne dermatitis due to garlic powder, which was also reported as a cause of immediate-type reactions such as conjunctivitis, rhinitis and asthma [83].…”