Quaternium-18 Bentonite in the Prevention of Allergic Contact Dermatitis

Abstract

The prevention of poison ivy/oak dermatitis by application of topical pretreatment is an effort to achieve an effective barrier to the penetration of an allergenic material. The system to be discussed has been shown to achieve meaningful protection from experimentally induced poison ivy/oak dermatitis and, as such, can serve as a model for similar barrier studies. Quaternium-18 bentonite lotion can be applied before exposure to the urushiol allergen from poison ivy/oak in an experimental system and prevent about 70% of sensitized subjects from reacting (Marks et al., 1995). In order for the study of barrier function to be meaningful, attention to several specific details is necessary: time of occlusion, timing of patch test readings, and grading scale