The Eczema Prevention Picture: Cotton Clothing

Wool and some synthetic fabrics can irritate your skin. Most people with sensitive skin feel better in clothes made of cotton or a cotton blend. In clothing metal zips, bra hooks, suspender clips, hair-pins, buttons, studs, spectacle frames etc. are likely to contain nickel which can irritate eczema. Use substitutes made of plastic, coated or painted metal or some other material.
Natural fiber clothing, made from wool, cotton, linen and mohair, have never in themselves been shown to be sensitizers. Sizing and stiffening cotton with starch or rosin may produce dermatitis. Dermatitis may occur more frequently from the use of dark clothing. Heavy perspiration, especially in oily-skinned individuals, causes more bleeding of the dye (e.g., widow's dermatitis).
Fabric finishes which are used to increase durability, to soften of stiffen a fabric, or to impart waterproofing, crease resistance or other properties to the fabric. The use of formaldehyde or its resins in clothing is widespread, but the incidence of resulting dermatitis is comparatively low. These are used to make fabrics crease resistant, water-repellent and shrink resistant. Dermatitis occurs mostly in obese women who demonstrate a dermatitis starting in the axilla and later affecting the sides of the neck, the antecubitals and the inguinals. In men, it is usually in the inner thighs, gluteal folds and back of the knees.
Stoddard solvent or other dry-cleaning solutions will occasionally produce a clothing-oriented dermatitis, as will moth crystals. Airing the clothes for a few days before wearing them will usually prevent this.
Management of clothing dermatitis involves the use of Decadron spray, which contains isopropyl myristate, a film or "spray-on-shield" which suppresses sweat and may protect the fabric and acts as a deodorant. Weight loss in obese women sometimes seems to help, as well as avoidance of panty girdles. Those who are sensitive to formaldehyde must avoid wash-and-dry or wash-and-wear and drip-dry clothing.