Contact sensitization to fragrances other than fragrance mix I in China

Although fragrance mix I (FM I) has been widely used to detect fragrance allergy, it can only detect up to 85% of fragrance-allergic patients (1). In the recent study by Mann et al. (2), only 57.6% of patients tested with an extended series of fragrance ingredients (the 26 substances required to be labelled in the EU) also reacted to a fragrance marker in the baseline series. In 2005, we reported that the prevalence of contact allergy to FM I in patients with eczema was 15.9% (3). Given that more and more Chinese are using fragrance-containing cosmetics, and are also exposed to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which may also contain fragrances, it is interesting to study fragrance allergy beyond FM I in China.