VHI’s Dr Bernadette Carr answers your questions

I was arranging some flowers last month and later in the day the back of one of my hands became red and itchy for a few hours. I didn’t do anything about it but the same thing happened a few days ago. Could it be an allergy?

As the symptoms that you experienced happened after you had handled the same substance it is possible that it is contact dermatitis. There are two types of contact dermatitis; irritant and allergic.

Irritant dermatitis is caused when the skin has direct contact with a substance which irritates the skin, it commonly affects the hands. However, in long standing dermatitis, spread may occur to areas not in contact with the allergen; this is associated with absorption of allergen into the circulation causing body reaction.