1600's copper miners in Saxony, Germany began to get irritated by a distinctly unknown "dark red ore" The miners thought the substance was copper, and since it led to many ailments they believed it to be protected by "goblins"—subsequently, naming what would eventually be discovered nickel as "Goblin's Copper" In the next century nickel began to be mass-produced for jewelry worldwide due to its cheap cost, resistance to corrosion and high supply.

In 1979 a large comprehensive study of healthy US volunteers found that 9% had been unknowingly sensitized to nickel , that number has tripled. Most importantly, nickel allergy among children is increasing, with an estimated 250,000 children sensitized to nickel.

Published literature shows an exponential increase in reported nickel allergy cases. The North American Contact Dermatitis Group (NACDG) patch tested 5085 adults, presenting with eczema-like symptoms, showing 19.5% had a positive reaction to nickel Nickel allergy is also more prevalent in women (17.1%) than men (3%), possibly due to cultural norms related to jewelry and ear piercings and therefore increased exposure to nickel. In order to investigate the current prevalence of nickel, Loma Linda University, Nickel Allergy Alliance, and Dermatitis Academy, are conducting a self-reporting nickel allergy-dermatitis survey.

Josef Jadassohn described the first case of metal contact dermatitis in 1895, to a mercurial-based therapeutic cream, and confirmed the cause by epi-cutaneous patch testing. Systemic contact dermatitis (SCD) is defined as a dermatitis occurring in an epi-cutaneously contact-sensitized person when exposed to haptens systemically such as orally, per rectum, intravesically, transcutaneously, intrauterinely, intravenously, or by inhalation.

Systemic nickel allergy syndrome (SNAS) pathophysiology is extremely complex and not well understood. The clinical course is determined by an immunological interplay between two diverse types of T cells (Th1 and Th2 responses). SCD is often considered a subset of SNAS, but with only skin manifestations. SNAS presents with an array of symptoms ranging from respiratory to generalized skin rash to gastrointestinal symptoms Interestingly, a meta review evaluating SNAS found that 1% of patients sensitized to nickel reacted to the nickel content of a 'normal' diet, and with increasing doses of nickel more individuals reacted SNAS is a multilayered immunologic response demonstrating variance between individuals and doses of nickel exposure.