What is the treatment for metal allergy?

Metal allergy is a widespread problem of modern people, since every person daily encounters metal objects. The mechanism of development and symptoms of metal allergy you can find in our previous article. If dermatitis is detected, the necessary treatment for metal allergy should be carried out.

The most important recommendation in the treatment of contact dermatitis to nickel is to exclude the patient from contact with this metal, which is almost impossible to achieve due to the widespread use of nickel in everyday life. How to achieve minimal body contact with metals?

How to reduce metal intake when treating a metal allergy?

Especially for patients in the treatment of metal allergy, German nutritionists have developed measures aimed at reducing the intake of nickel into the body through food, as well as dietary recommendations, for more details, read further on estet-portal.com. The nickel content depends on many factors: the location in which the plant foods used for food were grown; food processing methods. Moreover, each patient may have an individual threshold of tolerance, up to asymptomatic manifestations.

When treating a metal allergy, to reduce the intake of nickel in food, you should:

• Avoid using old stainless steel cookware, since quite a lot of nickel is absorbed into the food through the cookware. The new high quality stainless steel pan does not release nickel into the food. Alternative: enamelware, glassware, ceramics, clay;
• when treating a metal allergy, use half the volume of spring water instead of tap water for cooking and drinking;
• When preparing canned food, additional intake of nickel in food should be avoided. To avoid risk, it is necessary to limit the consumption of acidic foods (for example, sauerkraut, sour cucumbers);
• Acid foods (rhubarb, spinach, sauerkraut, citrus fruits, currants, etc.) should only be stored in porcelain or glassware;
• When preparing coffee, do not use metal utensils, including a coffee grinder, which can increase the concentration of nickel in coffee tenfold;
• thanks to the peel (husk), the nickel content in fruits, cereals and vegetables is reduced.

What is the medical treatment for metal allergy?

A feature of contact sensitization is the fact that if contact with the provocative substance is not repeated, then treatment of allergy to metal is usually not required.

The most severe acute manifestations of nickel contact dermatitis, as well as the severe chronic course of the disease, are treated with topical corticosteroids and histamine blockers.

Although many inflammatory mediators are involved in the origin of itching,swelling and flushing of the skin, in addition to histamine, patients with contact dermatitis are prescribed antihistamines. The use of antihistamines of a new generation, which are metabolites with anti-inflammatory effects, is shown. However, their anti-inflammatory effect is less pronounced than that of topical corticosteroids.

Mechanism of action of drugs for the treatment of metal allergy

As is known, in the skin epidermis the main target cells for topical corticosteroids are basal keratinocytes and Langerhans cells expressing glucocorticoid receptors on their surface. It has been shown that in the treatment of metal allergy at the site of application of corticosteroids, the number of Langerhans cells is significantly reduced and their ultrastructure is disturbed due to the cytotoxic effect of hormones. In addition, topical corticosteroids inhibit the activity of many cytokines and inflammatory mediators in the skin.

In case of pronounced activity of the skin process and severe persistent course of the disease, high-potency topical corticosteroids are prescribed under medical supervision for the treatment of metal allergy.

Metal allergy treatment for glucocorticosteroid intolerance

In clinical practice, especially among children, there are patients who cannot use topical hormonal agents in the treatment of metal allergy or need to limit the use of such drugs. According to recent data, topical calcineurin inhibitors (tacrolimus, pimecrolimus — elidel) can replace topical corticosteroids or significantly reduce the need for them.

Unlike topical corticosteroids, topical calcineurin inhibitors do not interfere with the expression of co-stimulatory molecules in dendritic cells, nor with the maturation or migration of Langerhans cells themselves.

These drugs do not cause skin atrophy and lack the major side effects commonly associated with topical corticosteroids.

Foreign researchers confirm the high therapeutic efficacy of topical calcineurin inhibitors in the treatment of metal allergy, including nickel-induced.