Premium
Contact dermatitis due to use of Octenisept ® in wound care
Author(s) -
Calow Trevis,
Oberle Kristina,
BrucknerTuderman Leena,
Jakob Thilo,
Schumann Hauke
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
jddg: journal der deutschen dermatologischen gesellschaft
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.463
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1610-0387
pISSN - 1610-0379
DOI - 10.1111/j.1610-0387.2009.07035.x
Subject(s) - antiseptic , contact dermatitis , medicine , dermatology , discontinuation , allergic contact dermatitis , irritant contact dermatitis , wound care , allergy , surgery , immunology , pathology
Summary Background: Octenisept ® , containing 0.1% octenidine/2% phenoxyethanol, is a widely used antiseptic in modern wound management. It is considered to have a very low allergenic potential. Thus far, neither allergic nor irritant contact dermatitis to the product has been described. Patients and methods: Chronic wounds in 251 patients were treated with Octenisept ® ; 11 developed signs of contact dermatitis. The symptoms improved after discontinuation of the antiseptic. Eight of these patients were patch tested to the antiseptic and its components. Results: The eight patients all showed a positive reaction to the product. In at least three cases a reaction to the components cocamidopropyl betaine and phenoxyethanol was found, but not to octenidine dihydrochloride. Conclusions: In this cohort, more than three percent of the treated patients developed a contact dermatitis to the antiseptic. However, the differentiation between allergic and irritant contact dermatitis towards the ingredients of the antiseptic remains problematic.