[Contact allergy to antiseptics: 75 cases analyzed by the dermato-allergovigilance network (Revidal)].

Aim: To determine the clinical features of contact dermatitis caused by antiseptics and to ascertain whether the substance responsible is the antiseptic itself or the excipients.

Patients And Methods: A multicenter, retrospective study based on analysis of all cases reported over a 2-year period to the Dermato-Allergology Vigilance network known as Revidal. Each dossier contained details of the clinical characteristics of lesions, the incriminated antiseptic, the mode of exposure and the results of patch tests done with the antiseptic in question.

[Contact dermatitis with Hirudo medicinalis].

Background: Hirudine is the first natural anti-coagulant ever described. It is used for its anti-coagulant properties in plastic surgery or for the treatment of post-phlebitic diseases. Natural hirudine is extracted from the saliva of the Hirudo medicinalis leech, but it can also be found in crushed leech and included in a cream (Hirucrème).

[Fixed pigmented erythema caused by levamisole administration].

Introduction: Description of a case of fixed drug eruption induced by levamisole.

Observation: Fixed toxic erythema with pigmentation was observed in a patient taking levamisole as an adjuvant to 5 fluorouracil chemotherapy for cancer of the colon. The imputability of levamisole was highly likely.

Erythema elevatum diutinum in a patient with relapsing polychondritis.

A 69-year-old man with a history of relapsing polychondritis developed a widespread cutaneous eruption that was clinically and histologically typical of erythema elevatum diutinum. This eruption was accompanied by a recurrence of arthralgias. The significance of this association between relapsing polychondritis and erythema elevatum diutinum, which has not been previously reported, is discussed.