Quantitative Aspects in Patch Testing and Usage Tests

Abstract

In an unselected Danish population 1.1% reacted in patch testing to the fragrance mix [1]. This implies that at least 4 million people in the European community are sensitized to perfume materials. There is good reason to believe that this is actually an underestimate of the real problem as the consumption of cosmetics per inhabitant in Denmark is much lower than for other European countries. In Denmark 36 ECU were expended per inhabitant in 1994 while, for instance, in France and Germany 77 and 71 ECU were spent on cosmetics [2]. In studies of eczema patients perfume allergy is found to be the second most common cause of contact allergy [3,4], and in several European countries an increasing trend in perfume allergy among eczema patients has been detected [3,5].