COSMETIC ALLERGY 97 Among the 550 cases, 157 were due to allergy to creams, 67 to lipsticks and 57 to face powders. Compared to foreign clinics we have seen very few cases of eczematous reactions to nail lacquer (13 cases) and strikingly few to hair dyes (19 cases). This may possibly be due to a relatively low consumption of the products in this country. Allergy to perfumes is rare. Less than 1 per cent of all patients with eczema showed allergy to perfumes in toilet soaps. Creams, alcoholic lotions and brilliantine for the hair accounted for fifty cases of eczema, shampoos only for six cases. It is of some interest to note that the inci- dence of allergy to emulsifying fats was rather high, namely Lanette wax (32 cases), lanolin (21 cases) and cetylan (17 cases). Considering the wide variety of products and the intimate and prolonged contact with the skin, the incidence of cosmetic allergy in this selected group of the population is remarkably low. For comparison it must be mentioned that allergy to nickel is demonstrated in between 3 and 4 per cent of all the patients seen, while allergy to all cosmetic products only occurs in about 2 per cent.

DESIGN OF COSMETIC SUN SCREENS SAUL I. K•.• pS* Presented September 3, 1958, New York Chapter Meeting WITHIN THE last two decades our knowledge of ultraviolet screens has made it possible to offer to the public suntan preparations which will effectively prevent painful sunburn and at the same time permit adequate tanning. Any material exposed to radiant energy will absorb, reflect or transmit that energy to a varying degree which depends upon both the nature of the incident energy and the nature of the material. It is the function of the cosmetic sun screen to absorb as completely as possible the sun's erythematogenic ultraviolet radiation while it transmits a max- imum of all the other wavelengths of the sun's radiation. Very few chem- icals come close to meeting this ideal situation. Radiant energy is classified in a broad electromagnetic spectrum. Perhaps the simplest way of considering this energy is that in the absence * Van Dyk & Co., Inc., Belleville, N.J. TklE ELE6TRO-MAGNE TI6 SPEOTRUM I0000 I000 U-V IO 98