Mayoclinic identifies top causes of contact dermatitis.

Contact dermatitis is the medical name for the skin rash that results when skin comes in contact with a substance it is allergic to.

Symptoms of contact dermatitis include skin redness, intense itching (often quite painful), and, in more extreme cases, skin thickening and scaling.

The first choice of treatment for contact dermatitis is antihistamines, lotions (especially those formulated for dry skin), and creams containing cortisone (an anti-inflammatory steroid).

The MayoClinic reports that common causes of contact dermatitis include:

• Laundry soap, detergents and cleaning products
• Rubber/Latex
• Metals such as nickel or gold or cobalt chloride
• Perfume/cosmetics
• Poison Ivy
• Formaldehyde (a preservative often found in paper products, medications, cleaners)
• Neomycin (a common ingredient in topical antibiotic creams)
• Quaternium-15 (a preservative often found in skin care products and also in industrial products such as waxes, paints, and polishes)