Computers and contact dermatitis

: A computerized database with the complete composition of pharmaceutical products and some cosmetics helps the patient with an allergic contact dermatitis reaction to avoid his specific allergens. Together with a database with patient information (12000 cases) this product, file serves as the basis for an expert system that assists the dermatologist during his every day clinical practice. The use of the computer in the field of contact dermatitis has gained much interest in the course of the last decade. In fact, the computer can be a particularly helpful tool in: 1. The storage of large amounts of data that can help to identify the patient's allergen microenvironment: --literature: articles related to contact dermatitis problems; --product information such as, for example, the composition of pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and industrial materials; --the dermatologist: the filling in of a standardized anamnesis from also helps to assure that relevant clinical data is not overlooked. 2. The diagnosis of allergic contact dermatitis: on the basis of all these data stored, an expert system can be developed to provide targeted information to assist the physician with the anamnesis of a new patient. Depending on the profile of the patient, several factors that could be at the source of the contact dermatitis, such as the patient's profession, hobbies, and use of pharmaceutical products and cosmetics, can be considered, thus increasing the efficiency of the allergological examination considerably. 3. Research in contact dermatitis: --The data can be used for epidemiological analyses in behalf of the patients, the medical profession, the industry, and the authorities.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)