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Review
. 2025 Jun 30;72(2):107-118.
doi: 10.29262/ram.v72i2.1437.

New cosmetics patch test series: A proposal

Paulo Eduardo Silva Belluco  1 , Marjorie Uber  2 , Franciane de Paula da Silva  3 , Júllia Eduarda Feijó Belluco  4 , Kerstin Taniguchi Abagge  5 , Rosana Zabulon Feijó Belluco  6 , José Carlos Mori  7
Affiliations
Review

New cosmetics patch test series: A proposal

Paulo Eduardo Silva Belluco et al. Rev Alerg Mex. .

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Contact dermatitis to cosmetic products is a common condition. It is likely the most frequent reason for performing patch tests because many substances used in cosmetics are potent allergens. Cosmetic contact dermatitis most frequently affects the face. Patch test series need to be continuously revised to identify outdated and emerging allergens. The aim of this study is to propose a reformulation of the patch test series for cosmetics. The list of European Surveillance System on Contact Allergies was initially used to select the allergens. Publications in PubMed from the last 10 years were sought, showing the frequency of positive reactions to cosmetic allergens that were tested as part of a baseline series or cosmetics series. Subsequently, large international databases evaluating retail products were consulted to verify if these substances were present in cosmetics, because the relevance would be their presence in commercially sold cosmetics. It was adopted a threshold of 0.3% positive patch test reactions for including a substance in cosmetics series. It was deleted those present in the baseline series (Associação Brasileira de Alergia e Imunologia), fragrances, and allergens limited to hair products. It is believed that choosing too few allergens may result in the non-identification of relevant allergens and treatable cases. On the other hand, testing a series with many allergens is time-consuming and more costly. Therefore, it seems appropriate to create cosmetics series with 20 elements.

La dermatitis de contacto, provocada por productos cosméticos, es una afección frecuente. Suele ser el motivo más frecuente para realizar pruebas epicutáneas, porque muchas sustancias utilizadas en los cosméticos son potentes alérgenos. La dermatitis cosmética de contacto afecta con mayor frecuencia la cara. Es necesario revisar continuamente series de pruebas epicutáneas para identificar alérgenos obsoletos y emergentes. El objetivo de este estudio es proponer una reformulación de las series de pruebas epicutáneas para cosméticos. Para seleccionar los alérgenos se utilizó inicialmente la lista del European Surveillance System on Contact Allergies. Se buscaron publicaciones en PubMed de los últimos 10 años que mostraran reacciones positivas frecuentes a alérgenos cosméticos, que se habían probado como parte de serie base o de serie de cosméticos. Posteriormente, se consultaron grandes bases de datos internacionales que evaluaban productos de venta para comprobar si estas sustancias estaban presentes en los cosméticos, y su relevancia en cosméticos de venta comercial. Se adoptó un umbral del 0.3% de reacciones positivas en pruebas epicutáneas para incluir una sustancia en series de cosméticos. Se suprimieron las presentes en la serie base (Associação Brasileira de Alergia e Imunologia), fragancias y alérgenos limitados a los productos capilares. Es probable que la elección reducida de alérgenos se asocie con deficiente o nula identificación de los mismos y de casos tratables. Probar una serie con gran cantidad de alérgenos lleva mucho tiempo y es costoso. Por lo tanto, es importante emprender series de cosméticos con 20 elementos.

Keywords: Allergens; Contact dermatitis; Cosmetic contact dermatitis; Fragrances; Patch test.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There was no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Horton E, Wilkinson M, Aalto-Korte K, Pesonen M, Bauer A, Chowdhury MMU, et al. A survey of members of the European Surveillance System on Contact Allergy and the EU project "StanDerm" to identify allergens tested in cosmetic series across Europe. Contact Derm 2020;82(3):195-200. doi:10.1111/cod.13437
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