Review by Thomas Rustemeyer
This book on contact allergy to topical drugs is the third in the Monographs in Contact Allergy series written by Anton de Groot. Our department has the previous volumes (1: Non-fragrance allergens in cosmetics, 2: Fragrances and essential oils) in our library and they are frequently consulted. This is again a unique book, packed with practical and easily accessible information. It is up-to-date to August 2020, Anton told me. The incredibly short production time of the book was possible, as the author has again formatted the text completely by himself and all the publisher had to do was to have it printed.
After an introductory chapter, De Groot in chapter 2 gives an overview of all aspects of allergic contact dermatitis from topical drugs, including prevalence, predisposing factors, clinical manifestations, the allergens, cross-reactivity and diagnostic procedures. Chapter 3 shows the monographs of topical drugs, 369 in total. These fully discuss the available literature on contact allergy/allergic contact dermatitis to each drug in the same format as the previous volumes.
Chapter 4 presents over 150 non-pharmaceutical ingredients of topical drugs that have caused sensitization, e.g. parabens, thimerosal, lanolin alcohol, propylene glycol, fragrances, essential oils, et cetera. Some of these ingredients could never be found by a search in PubMed or any other database. Chapter 5 shows drugs that have caused contact urticaria. Very original is chapter 6, in which the author gives a preview of the drugs that will be discussed in Volume 4 on Systemic drugs. Anton told me that he had originally planned to present the topical and systemic drugs in one volume, but he soon discovered that the subject was far too large for one book. Apparently, he has already found 500 drugs that have caused one or more types of cutaneous adverse drug reaction (e.g. DRESS, AGEP, SDRIFE, fixed drug eruption, maculopapular eruptions) caused by delayed-type hypersensitivity or occupational allergic contact dermatitis. Something to look forward to! The great book is available as both printed and eBook.
View the Preface, Contents, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2 online (click ‘Preview this title’)
Monographs in Contact Allergy, Volume 3. Topical drugs
Author: Anton C. de Groot
First Edition, 2021 (ISBN 978-0-367-23693-9)
CRC Press Taylor & Francis group, Boca Raton, Fl, USA
Pages: 873 + xx
Price: hardback £155, eBook £139,50