Summary
Between January 1984 and September 1986, we conducted epicutaneous testing on 1000 patients with suspected allergic contact dermatitis, and between October 1986 and December 1987 on 800 patients. The number of positive reactions to formaldehyde, parabens, and mercury seemed high to us compared with what was published by certain authors. This is due to the still widespread use of formaldehyde and parabens in the environment, and to the presence in Swiss homes and hospitals of mercury-containing products. Among the 800 patients tested between October 1986 and December 1987, we observed 29 positive reactions to Kathon CG (3.6%). The increased use of this preservative in cosmetics since the 1970s may possibly explain the high sensitization rate observed.
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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Pasche, F., Hunziker, N. (1989). Preservatives in Geneva. 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_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74299-6_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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