We performed patch tests with Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dp) antigens from 2 different sources in 355 non-randomly selected patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and 398 subjects of a control group. The study demonstrated that contact sensitization to mites occurred in an appreciable % of AD cases (20.8%), using commonly available assay products. The differences recorded between the 2 materials tested were related to the concentration of P1 antigen. Non-atopic patients rarely showed positive reactions to Dp (0.75%), when strict criteria for readings were applied and if 2 readings were performed. Patients with positive patch tests did not necessarily show positive immediate skin tests. It would be useful to carry out tests systematically in atopic patients, even if it is not yet known what modern treatment would be best for the patient. Laboratories still do not provide standardized house dust mite preparations--measuring and codifying their biological activity--for use in patch tests. It is to be hoped that the extension of this type of test will lead to the production of better test materials, in syringes with homogeneous dispersion and concentration.

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Contact allergy from topical imidazole antifungals is seldom reported. 15 such cases, over a 12-year period, are reported here. Results are discussed particularly with regard to imidazole cross-reactions and to sensitization to topicals combining miconazole and hydrocortisone.

Dowling-Degos' anomaly is characterized by a reticular and spotted pigmentation of the skin folds; this pigmentary disturbance, occurring most often in women, is a dominant inherited genodermatosis which worsens progressively and may exhibit in the early phase rapid changes in severity after emotional stress. In a 9-year-old girl, an electonmicroscopic study of pigmented lesions showed a strong melanocytic activity with quantitative increase of the melanosomes; the average size of the melanosomes was not different when compared to normal Caucasoid skin, but in the keratinocytes they were distributed according to a dispersed pattern as in black skin. The pigmentary state of Dowling-Degos' disease is another example of melanocyte-keratinocyte interaction where the epidermal melanin pattern and the size of pigment granules are not in striking correlation. An accelerated rate of melanogenesis and pigmentation may be another factor determining a non-aggregated distribution of the melanosomes within the keratinocytes. The nature of the stimulus of pigmentation in these skin areas which are not sun-exposed is still unclear.

This study has two purposes: -to know whether the European standard series is still the key reference when it comes to contact dermatitis, i.e., are its components still the most frequently involved allergens in contact dermatitis nowadays? -to assess the results of the European standard series among French and Belgian dermatologists/allergists as, so far, most of them have failed to provide statistical data within the European community of allergists/dermatologists. 18 participants from 2 dermatology and allergy centres in Belgium and 11 centres in France collected their results from 3,073 patients tested in 2011. They assessed the relevance of some tests as well as that of the standard series and additional series to establish an etiological diagnosis of contact dermatitis. These results, together with the history of the European standard series, have shown that some allergens are obsolete and that others should be included in a new standard series for which we are making a few suggestions.