ISSN:
1365-2133
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Contact allergy to fragrances is a common problem world-wide. The currently used fragrance mix (FM) for patch testing has only eight constituents and does not identify all fragrance-allergic patients. As perfumes may contain 100 or more substances, the search for markers for allergy continues. The synthetic fragrance 4-(4-hydroxy-4-methylpentyl)-3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde (Lyral®) was tested together with the FM and 11 other fragrance substances on consecutive patients in six European departments of dermatology. All patients were carefully questioned regarding a history of reactions to scented products in the past and were grouped into four categories: ‘certain’, ‘probable’, ‘questionable’ and ‘none’. Lyral® (5% in petrolatum) gave a positive reaction in 2·7% of 1855 patients (range 1·2–17%) and ranked next to 11·3% with FM allergy. Twenty-four patients reacted to both Lyral® and FM, but 21 (1·1%) reacted positively only to Lyral®. Of 124 patients with a ‘certain’ history, 53·2% reacted to the FM and a further 7·2% to Lyral® only. If any kind of history of fragrance intolerance was given, 80% (40 of 50) of Lyral® positive patients had a ‘positive’ history while only 58·6% (123 of 210) of FM positive patients had such a history; this difference was significant at P 〈 0·01. Lyral® was identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in some products which had caused an allergic contact dermatitis in four typical patients who showed a patch test positive to Lyral® and negative or doubtful to FM. In conclusion, we recommend the testing of 5% Lyral® (in petrolatum) in patients suspected of contact dermatitis.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2133.1999.03208.x
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