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Kanerva's Occupational Dermatology pp 847–857Cite as

Detergents

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Abstract

Household, personal, and industrial products contain detergents which play an important role in everyday life.

The term “detergency” is used to describe the process of cleaning by a surface-active agent (surfactant).

The most important ingredients of detergents are surfactants which display surface-tension-lowering properties so water can expand to wet surface, increasing washing effectiveness. Chemically, surfactants are amphiphilic molecules with a lipophilic tail and a hydrophilic head. They are categorized into four primary groups according to the charge present in the hydrophilic head: anionic, cationic, amphoteric, and nonionic. In the current market of cleaners and cleansers, anionic surfactants are the most common ones.

Surfactants may be irritating to the skin. The order of irritant potential of surfactants is the following: cationic = anionic > amphoteric > nonionic; however, mixtures of surfactants may elicit unexpected reactions.

Considering the widespread use and applications of household and personal detergents, the frequency of side effects to the skin is relatively low in an occupational as well in a personal exposure.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine, Health Theory, University of Osnabrueck, Sedanstrasse 115, D-49069, Osnabrueck, Federal Republic of Germany

    Dr. Lilla Landeck

  2. Centre Dermatology and Aesthetic Medicine, Newton, MA, USA

    Lynn A. Baden

  3. Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine and Health Theory, University of Osnabrueck, Osnabrueck, Germany

    Swen-Malte John

Authors
  1. Dr. Lilla Landeck
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  2. Lynn A. Baden
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  3. Swen-Malte John
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lilla Landeck .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology and Allergology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Thomas Rustemeyer

  2. Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany

    Peter Elsner

  3. Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine and Health Theory, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany

    Swen-Malte John

  4. Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Howard I. Maibach

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Landeck, L., Baden, L.A., John, SM. (2012). Detergents. In: Rustemeyer, T., Elsner, P., John, SM., Maibach, H.I. (eds) Kanerva's Occupational Dermatology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02035-3_75

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02035-3_75

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-02034-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-02035-3

  • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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