A review of 79 cases of eyelid dermatitis.

Seventy-nine patients with eyelid dermatitis and 1012 patients with dermatitis at other sites were assessed with patch tests. Eighty-nine percent of the eyelid cases involved women. Only the eyelids were involved in 78.5% of cases. Of the patients with eyelid dermatitis 46% had allergic contact dermatitis, 15% had irritant contact dermatitis, and 23% had atopic dermatitis. Only 13% were work related. Positive reactions to patch tests for cinnamic alcohol, diazolidinyl urea, and neomycin sulfate occurred more frequently, whereas those for cobalt and nickel occurred less frequently, in patients who had eyelid dermatitis when compared to the reactions of patients who did not have eyelid dermatitis.