Influence of chemical fiber on skin of allergic dermatitis

Abstract

　People often refer to as a chemical fiber allergy, where chemical fiber induces itching and/or skin-reddening onto skin by a direct contact. The chemical substances contained in chemical fiber are thought to provoke contact dermatitis, and a dermatologist recommends to wear cotton for the patients with contact dermatitis. However, no direct offending substance for contact dermatitis is found among the chemical substances contained in chemical fiber. We assess the influence of wearing cotton and polyester with respect to contact dermatitis by examining the skin condition of two groups of the subjects composed of young female students (aged from 20 to 22 years old) with healthy skin and with allergic dermatitis, respectively. The appearance of contact dermatitis is more often noted in summer and winter, and sweat and dryness are thought to be a main cause to induce contact dermatitis. The itching and skin-reddening were observed on the skin scraping against the cloth (neck or chest) and the bending part (elbow and knee) getting wet with sweat. The subjects with allergic dermatitis were found to have lower skin water amount, lower skin oily amount and lower skin elasticity than the subjects with healthy skin. The sweat collected from the subjects with allergic dermatitis exhibited a higher pH value than that collected from the healthy subjects, and also contained more histamine (an itching component). Chosen cotton and polyester as a stimulant, the influence of the material was examined by wearing T-shirts made of those materials. The results show that cotton induces less itching and skin-reddening than polyester with the thickness is the same, but thinner polyester exhibits better performance than cotton in this respect.