Sporadic cases of contact allergy to white petrolatum, which is used as a vehicle in patch test preparations, have been reported. The quantitative relevance of the phenomenon remains yet to be elucidated. Methods: Ret...Sporadic cases of contact allergy to white petrolatum, which is used as a vehicle in patch test preparations, have been reported. The quantitative relevance of the phenomenon remains yet to be elucidated. Methods: Retrospective analysis of patch test data of the Information Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK, http://www.ivdk.org) between 1992 and 2004. Results: Analysis of 79 365 patients patch tested with pure petrolatum yielded 27 ‘ + ’ (0.03% ) and 2 ‘ + + + ’ (0.003% ) reactions. The majority of non-negative reactions (0.3% ) was interpreted as doubtful (235) or mild irritant (32). The negative reaction index (RI) (- 0.8), and the high positivity ratio (PR) (93% ) especially a lack of concordance with patch test preparations containing ≥ 99% petrolatum indicate that many of the ‘ positive’ (+ ) reactions have to be considered as irritant. There were 2 ‘ + + + ’ reactions. In 1 case, an ‘ angry back reaction’ was confirmed. The other case is probably a reading or documentation error, as the majority of patch test reactions to preparations containing petrolatum remained negative in this case also. Conclusions: True allergic patch test reactions to white petrolatum are extremely rare and probably due to an individually increased susceptibility to allergens and/or irritants. This is in agreement with considering petrolatum as a non-sensitizer.展开更多
文摘Sporadic cases of contact allergy to white petrolatum, which is used as a vehicle in patch test preparations, have been reported. The quantitative relevance of the phenomenon remains yet to be elucidated. Methods: Retrospective analysis of patch test data of the Information Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK, http://www.ivdk.org) between 1992 and 2004. Results: Analysis of 79 365 patients patch tested with pure petrolatum yielded 27 ‘ + ’ (0.03% ) and 2 ‘ + + + ’ (0.003% ) reactions. The majority of non-negative reactions (0.3% ) was interpreted as doubtful (235) or mild irritant (32). The negative reaction index (RI) (- 0.8), and the high positivity ratio (PR) (93% ) especially a lack of concordance with patch test preparations containing ≥ 99% petrolatum indicate that many of the ‘ positive’ (+ ) reactions have to be considered as irritant. There were 2 ‘ + + + ’ reactions. In 1 case, an ‘ angry back reaction’ was confirmed. The other case is probably a reading or documentation error, as the majority of patch test reactions to preparations containing petrolatum remained negative in this case also. Conclusions: True allergic patch test reactions to white petrolatum are extremely rare and probably due to an individually increased susceptibility to allergens and/or irritants. This is in agreement with considering petrolatum as a non-sensitizer.
