Hydrofluoric acid is used widely as materials or washing agent in the fluorochemical industry and in electronics manufacture. Hydrofluoric acid displays a rapid penetrating action when it has touched the skin of workers.
For this reason, peculiar injuries usually known as “hydrofluoric acid burns”, have increased among the workers.
In the present study, after application of hydrofluoric acid (30, 50 and 70%, 0.02ml) to the skin of mice, determinations of the fluorine content and patho-histological observations in various organs of the animal were made.
The results were as follows :
1) All of the mice contacted with 70% hydrofluoric acid died from 1.5 to 2.5 hrs. after the treatment, and about two thirds of the mice contacted with 50% hydrofluoric acid died from 2.5 to 5.0 hrs. after the treatment.
2) Under conditions of hydrofluoric acid treatment the skin, the lungs, the liver and kidneys showed a high increase in fluorine content as compared with control conditions without such treatment. In propotion to the concentration of hydrofluoric acid and the length of time of contact to the skin, fluorine concentrations in these organs increased significantly.
3) Fluorine contents in the lungs, the liver and the kidneys increased with lapse of time significantly, but its concentration in the brain remaind unchanged as compared to the controls.
4) Patho-histological observations, revealed that the lungs, the liver and the kidneys Showed haemorrhage, congestion, disappearance of nuclei, vacuolar degeneration and so on within 24 hrs. after the treatment.
It is suggested that if workers suffer from injuries resulting from high concentrations of hydrofluoric acid, systemic care is necessary as well as immediate local treatment.

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