A patient develops localized contact dermatitis from prolonged exposure to nickel jewelry. Which mechanism explains why the skin's barrier function fails, leading to inflammation?

💡 Explanation

The skin's barrier function fails because nickel acts as a hapten, binding to skin proteins and disrupting the lipid lamellae within the stratum corneum. This allows the nickel-protein complex to penetrate the skin, triggering an immune response and inflammation. Therefore, disrupted lipid lamellae are responsible, rather than melanocyte production, keratinocyte turnover, or sebum secretion.

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