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CUTANEOUS REACTIONS TO ALLERGENS AND IRRITANTS IN COSMETICS* By JosEph L. MoasE, M.D. New York, N.Y. FOR .H•. PURPOSE of this paper the term cosmetics is used not only for preparations that are in- tended to enhance one's appearance but also the host of other substances that are used externally by both women and men to either improve or treat some functional abnor- mality of the skin. Although cos- metics are generally harmless, as their use increases and more and more preparations are manufac- tured and introduced, the incidence of dermatitis from them is increas- ing. Chemical agents are the pre- dominant causes of contact derma- titis, and in discussing the chemical causes of dermatitis these substances are divided by dermatological aller- gists into two groups: the primary irritants and the specific irritants. Primary irritants are those chemi- cals that will cause a dermatitis on the normal skin of any person at the site of contact if permitted to act in sufficient intensity or quantity for a sufficient length of time. Such a dermatitis is not due to hyper- * Presented at the December 8, 19•,8, Meeting of The Society of Cosmetic Chem- ists in New York City. sensitivity and is not called an allergic dermatitis. On the other hand, specific irritants are those substances which will produce a der- matitis only in hypersensitive per- sons. They are sensitizers and do not necessarily cause demonstrable '•changes on first contact but may effect such changes in the skin that, after five to seven days or longer, further contact on the same or other parts of the skin will cause a derma- titis. This is due to specific sensi- tivity or allergy, and it is called an allergic dermatitis. Hypersehsitive persons may more readily become sensitized to the so-called primary irritants in dilutions of these sub- stances too weak to be irritants in the normal individual, or they may be affected by them on shorter ex- posure then would irritate the normal skin. It has been stated that there is practically no chemical agent to which hypersensitivity or allergy cannot be acquired Chemicals vary in their potentiality to cause 'sensitization but certain ones are more powerful sensitizers than others and are capable of sensitizing a larger percentage of the popula- 246