Nuts As a Cause of Contact Dermatitis of the Hands.

To evaluate contact hypersensitivity to some of the commonly used Indian nuts, patch tests were undertaken with cashew nuts, ground nuts, almonds and pistachio in 3 groups of individuals: (1) patients exposed to the corresponding nut and having dermatitis on their fingertips, (2) controls having no dermatitis, but exposed to the nut, and (3) unexposed group. A paste prepared by Cushing the nut and used as such gave positive patch test 'reactions in, all the 6 patients tested with cashew - nut, ground - nut and almonds, and these looked to be irritant reactions. Further patch tests with these three nuts were therefore done with 1:1 dilution of the paste with distilled water. The number of patients showing positive patch tests out of the total number.