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Preventing irritant contact dermatitis with protective creams: influence of the application dose
Author(s) -
Schliemann Sibylle,
Petri Maximilian,
Elsner Peter
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
contact dermatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0536
pISSN - 0105-1873
DOI - 10.1111/cod.12104
Subject(s) - irritant contact dermatitis , irritation , transepidermal water loss , contact dermatitis , skin irritation , medicine , dermatology , hand dermatitis , allergy , stratum corneum , immunology , pathology
Summary Background Skin protection creams ( PC )s are used in the occupational setting to help prevent irritant hand dermatitis. The actual amounts of PC applied and the resulting dose per unit area on hands at work are lower than recommended. Objectives To assess the influence of the applied dose on the efficacy of PC s in the prevention of irritant contact dermatitis. Methods Experimental cumulative irritant contact dermatitis was induced by twice daily application of 0.5% N a OH or sodium lauryl sulfate ( SLS ) for 4 days on the backs of 20 healthy volunteers. Test areas were left unprotected or were pretreated with three different PC s applied at a low dose (2 mg/cm 2 ) or a high dose (20 mg/cm 2 ) before irritation. Irritant responses were assessed by visual scoring and measurement of transepidermal water loss, chromametry, and corneometry. Results Although cumulative irritant dermatitis developed in all unprotected test sites, irritation was significantly reduced in a dose‐dependent manner on PC ‐protected sites. The higher doses of all PC s provided significant protection against irritation. However, the lower dose of one product did not significantly protect against SLS ‐induced irritation. Conclusions The protective efficacy of PC s depends on the amount of product applied per unit skin surface area. Some products may show no protective efficacy when used at doses close to those practically applied at workplaces. Future efficacy studies of PC s should be performed with doses not higher than 2 mg/cm 2 , to avoid overestimation of their protective efficacy.