Immune Reactions in Contact Dermatitis Affected Skin

This study hopes to improve the investigators understanding of how the immune system acts in allergic contact dermatitis. In order to reach this goal, normal volunteers, who are suspected of having allergic contact dermatitis, will be patch tested for the fifteen most common allergens. Then, biopsies will be taken of the skin at the sites where the there is a positive reaction to the allergen. Also, small biopsies will be taken from an area that received a patch but no allergen and an area that did not receive a patch to serve as controls. In a second stage of the study, volunteers will receive patches with the allergen to which they demonstrated an allergic response. More biopsies will be taken, over three designated time points. The biopsied skin samples will then be studied in a laboratory.