Karan Lal, DO: Allergens in Personal Care Products, Allergic Contact Dermatitis, Rocatinlimab

In an HCPLive interview, Karan Lal, DO, described various topics of interest in the field of dermatology, including misdiagnosis of allergic contact dermatitis, allergens in personal care products, and recent trial data.

Lal serves as the Affiliated Dermatology Scottsdale director of pediatric dermatology and cosmetic surgery. He is also the social media chair for the Society for Pediatric Dermatology.

Lal explored recent research into allergens found in certain personal care products labeled as natural—such as skincare and shampoo—commenting about the ingredients in some of these products that may lead to allergic contact dermatitis.

“There is no FDA regulation on what's deemed to be natural or clean, like in foods,” Lal explained. “So for my patients that use a lot of ‘natural’ products, they actually end up having a lot of fragrance or fragrance derivatives, or things that are not in fragrance mix that are allergenic. So limonene, citronellol. These are all things that are derived from natural things like lemon, and all of these things that provide a certain scent.”

He also explained his views on what his own patients are recommended not to do with regard to these sorts of products.

“And in that study, many many many products also had allergens that were listed in our CAMP database, which is what we use when we're telling patients about products that they should and should not use,” he said.

Later, Lal went on to describe the frequency of clinicians misdiagnosing allergic contact dermatitis when in fact a patient’s condition may be atopic dermatitis.

“I think atopic derm often gets misdiagnosed as allergic contact dermatitis,” he said. “...I think it's very easy at the moment in the clinic, to get a label of atopic dermatitis from somebody because they have a dry, scaly, rash. It's itchy without being worked up. So oftentimes, they get referrals for what it's a topic term not responding to certain agents or medications, and they haven't been adequately patch-tested.”

Lal later went into a discussion on recent phase 2 trial data on rocatinlimab for atopic dermatitis, which he describes in detail.

For more insights into these topics, view the full interview above.