318 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS These were found in patients having erythropoetic porphyria or porphyria cutanea tarda, diseases of the porphyric metabolism leading to severe skin reactions already after short exposures to radiation of the longer ultraviolet range. The treatment consists in the regular application of ointments contain- ing pigments and absorbers in order to screen out the noxious radiation. When a highly concentrated light absorber composition in a cosmetic cream would give a clear effect against porphyria symptoms it seemed reaso- nable to deduct, that a reduced amount of active absorber would leave the same cream effective for healthy skin against the weak doses of daily uv-radiation. Naturally the absorbing capacity had to be established in both and correlated through photometric measurement. The development work for the dermatological composition had to be based on the idea of making a cosmetic skin care product, to be used daily. This meant e.g. to start with an oil/water emulsion to avoid greasy properties, to eliminate pigments, and undissolved or strongly coloured absorbers, to look for very compatible active ingredients without side reaction and give the vehic- le good moisturizing properties. By careful selection of the uv-absorber composition, skillful compounding of the vehicles and photometric and medical testing of the development pro- ducts we were able to prepare pigmentfree dermatological emulsions and clear solutions highly protecting and at the same time of a pleasant cosmeti- cally acecptable form (13). The objective evaluation by spectrophotometric measurement and the "protection factor method" (14) showed more or less similar behaviour of the conventional drug and the new cosmetic composi- tion, protection factors between 7 and 9. The success of the cosmetic prepara- tion used by the porphyria patients and clinically controlled, definitely excee- ded the conventional one. This had to be attributed mainly to the formula, the frequency of reapplication and psychological effects the drug was considered unpleasant to use. With the examples of the foot spray and the porphyria cream we have presented two therapeutical compositions, which owe their success to the cosmetic aspects having entered into the development work. To show that the cosmetic chemist's influence extends further than ,,to improve the cos- metic acceptability of dermatological preparations" [Hadgraft (1)] and that cosmetic research can help a great deal in dermatology or pharmacy, a few points, which illustrate this thesis, have to be mentioned. Long shelf-life expectations, careless handling and storage by the custo- mer, strong competition, healthy and therefore critical users, hard to please, have brought about a very high standard in theory and practice of emulsifi- cation, emulsifying chemicals and the related colloidal chemistry. Dealing

TOPICAL PREPARATIONS 319 with people who regard cosmetics as safe and unproblematic commodities, the widespread consumption of the products, the daily application of same during several decades of the human life and the increasing sensitation percentage of the industrial society, has led to a broad knowledge of short and long time compatibility testing, safety evaluation, preservation and special tech- niques in microbiological or physicochemical analysis. As our last example to show the importance of cosmetic aspects in derma- tology we will now discuss a prophylactic medicament, designed against cer- tain industrial hazards. In 1967 and 1968 research was conducted on the problem of preventing skin damage caused by uv-radiation emitted from quartz lamps, and ocurring with female workers controlling the manufactured lamps (16). The symp- toms, showing on the faces were dry, scaly skin, light inflammation, elevated skin temperature, beginning edema on the cheeks and disagreeable sensa- tions like itching, contraction of the face, tension of the facial skin. The obvious reason was repeated exposure to uv-radiation showing definite ma- xima at 295 nm, 305 nm, 315 nm, in the UV-B range and at 370 nm. Two preparations were used, one of them being a brand name cosmetic sun protection cream with good absorption characteristics, the other a deve- lopment product of lesser cosmetic appeal, but better absorbance in wave range and percentage. The creams were handed to each worker and instruc- tions were given. At the end of the test the objective symptoms which had made the control jobs hazardous had more or less disappeared regardless of wether the brand name or the development cream was used. A marked pre- ference of the sun cream however was obvious and even led to the voicing of continued subjective symptoms, by those having used the development product although the skin damage had disappeared. Inspection of the skin and questioning of the test persons revealed, that the first reason for this pronounced success of the cosmetic product was the ocurrence of a light ,,healthy" face pigmentation (suntan), due to a different uv-absorption spectrum and higher transmission of the cosmetic suntan product. Second, that the sun cream was perfumed and labeled ,,for skin care and protection" thus adding glamour to the daily work whereas the development product was only functional and work related. The workers were eager to have the tanning cream at their working place and ready to use it daily, whereas the other product was refused. It is our opinion that the cosmetic approach to the formulation of topical preparations in dermatology should become general practice and we have tried to give some examples to back this statement. From our experience we suggest furthermore that special interest and research should be directed to