Summary
Preservatives may be defined as chemicals added to topical drugs, cosmetics, toiletries, household products, and aqueous and emulsion systems in industry to prevent them from spoiling. They may act by interfering with certain chemical reactions or with the growth of molds, fungi, bacteria or parasites. The use concentration in the finished products is generally in the range of 0.01% to 1%. Owing to their inherent reactivity, many of these chemicals can induce allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). An overwhelming number of preservative formulations are marketed under various trade names and their synonyms. Unfortunately, there is no single source of information regarding the production, import and use of the different preservatives. The present paper focuses on four issues related to contact allergy to preservatives.
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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Andersen, K.E. (1989). Contact Allergy to Preservatives. In: Frosch, P., Dooms-Goossens, A., Lachapelle, JM., Rycroft, R.J.G., Scheper, R.J. (eds) Current Topics in Contact Dermatitis. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74299-6_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74299-6_14
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