Abstract
A 28-year-old woman complained of pruritic and erythematopapular eruptions on her face of 10 days duration. Even after the application of topical corticosteroids the eruptions did not improve, although she continued to use make up during the treatment. She visited our clinic for further examinations and appropriate therapy on April 13, 1998. The pruritic condition was suggested to be contact dermatitis from something used on her face. Patch testing with the cosmetics she had been using revealed that two kinds of lotions and one cosmetic essence showed an allergic positive reactions. When she visited our clinic again about six months later, similar eruptions on her face had again developed from different cosmetics from those previously used. Positive patch test reactions were demonstrated by one kind of cleansing foam, cream, and sunscreen cream, respectively. After patch testing with the ingredients from this cream, 1,3-butylene glycol (1,3-BG) (10% pet.) proved to be a causative agent. Recently, many daily products such as cosmetics, shampoo, and toothpaste contain 1,3-BG instead of propylene glycol due to its low sensitizing and antibiotic characteristics. Furthermore, since such cosmetics tend to contain 1, 3-BG in high concentrations, namely from 10-20%, the number of patient, presenting with contact dermatitis from 1,3-BG is therefore expected to increase in the future.
