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Oscar Wilde's skin disease: allergic contact dermatitis?
Author(s) -
Nater J. P
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
contact dermatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0536
pISSN - 0105-1873
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0536.1992.tb05197.x
Subject(s) - medicine , allergic contact dermatitis , dermatology , otitis , contact dermatitis , disease , allergy , surgery , pathology , immunology
During the last years of his life, Oscar Wilde (1856–1900) suffered from a suppurating otitis media as well as from an unidentified skin disease. The eruption was localized to his face, arms, chest and buck and itched severely. A new theory is suggested, bused on the fact that Wilde almost certainly used a dye to conceal his rapidly praying hair. He sensitized himself to p ‐phenylenediamine and developed A stubborn allergic contact dermatitis. Patch testing, the only proof of such a diagnosis, had not yet been devised.