[Contact allergic dermatitis caused by plants].

In order to contribute to the setting of an accurate diagnosis and prophylaxis of phytodermatitis (PD) and to better understand eczematogenic characteristics of some plants, we present results of an allergologic analysis and review the plants which most commonly cause FD in our material. A total of 15 patients presenting with FD was examined. In all the cases we used a standard technique, patch test (PT); in cases supsective of contact urticaria syndrome (CUS) we used open PT, while photo PT was used for cases suspective of photo PD. We used fresh parts of the plants and standard allergen battery for epicutaneous testing (Department of Immunology, Zagreb). Depending on the profession of the subjects, tests with the material from working places with specific batteries of tests for specific professions were applied according to the recommendations of ICDRG. Tests with parts of the plants were carried out in 8 cases and in 5 controls. A total of 38 plants was examined. Positive PT was found for sisal, willow, parsnip, carrot, celery, spinach, green tomato, broomcorn, lemon skin, pyracantha, arborvitae, yucca, ficus, juniper tree, plane tree and greenhouse grass. In cases of positive PT for willow, carrot, celery, green tomato and grass, positive PT for Peru balsam (PB) was also detected, while in positive PT for lemon skin, a positive PT on turpentine was found as well. Negative results of PT for willow, carrot, celery, parsnip, green tomato, lemon and juniper tree and positive photo PT on greenhouse grass in controls, indicate that we have detected allergic PD on the above mentioned plants.