JiaDe Yu, MD: Key Signs of Allergic Contact Dermatitis in Children
AAD 2025. JiaDe Yu, MD, discusses key clinical signs of pediatric ACD, when to consider patch testing, and how identifying contact allergens can improve patient care.
For a primary care physician seeing a child with allergic contact dermatitis (ACD), what are the key clinical features that should raise suspicion, differentiating it from other conditions like atopic dermatitis (AD)?
That is a question that Patient Care Online asked JiaDe 'Jeff' Yu, MD, during an exclusive interview at the 2025 American Academy of Dermatology Conference in Orlando, Florida.
In the video above, Dr Yu, a dermatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses how primary care physicians can differentiate ACD from AD in pediatric patients. He highlights key clinical features that should raise suspicion for ACD, including rash location, treatment resistance, and age of onset. Dr Yu also explains why patch testing can be valuable in select cases and emphasizes the importance of identifying contact allergens to improve patient outcomes and potentially reduce the need for systemic treatments.
Dr Yu is the director of the Contact Dermatitis Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
For more of our conversation with Dr Yu, check out Recognizing Allergic Contact Dermatitis in Children: Expert Pearls at AAD 2025
