No abstract

Photodermatitis from Carprofen in 3 patients was reported. The absorbance spectrum of Carprofen revealed maximum absorbance at UVB range. The clinical presentation in the 3 patients suggested that a phototoxic mechanism may be responsible.

Colour developers are widely used and contact dermatitis and lichen planus-like eruptions from them are well-known. As a result of automation, there have been few recent reports of contact dermatitis from colour developers. We describe here 4 cases of dermatoses from Kodak CD4 colour developer and study their cross sensitivity to other colour developers and PPD. Attempts were made to determine the purity of the patch test allergens to ensure that cross sensitivity was not the result of contamination and decomposition of the allergens.

The total cobalt and nickel concentration of 11 brands of Asian cement ranged from 8.1 to 14.2 micrograms/g and 14.9 to 28.5 micrograms/g, respectively. These metals exist mainly as insoluble salts; the water-soluble concentration of cobalt and nickel in the cements ranged from 0.39 to 0.65 micrograms/g and from 0-1.2 micrograms/g, respectively. 1.5% (4/272) of construction workers in a prefabrication construction factory had cobalt sensitivity. All had allergic contact dermatitis from chromate in cement. No worker had isolated cobalt sensitivity and cement dermatitis. It appeared that sensitization to cobalt in cement occurs only secondarily to an existing cement dermatitis. 1.8% (5/272) workers had nickel sensitivity: 2 with allergic contact dermatitis to nickel in their watches, 2 were asymptomatic and 1 had allergic contact dermatitis to chromate and cobalt in cement. The low prevalence of cobalt and nickel sensitivity from cement was probably related to the low concentration of soluble cobalt and nickel salts in the cement. However, these insoluble salts can form soluble complexes with body fluids on eczematous skin and sensitize the skin.

The chromate content of 10 different Asian cements is studied. The hexavalent chromate and total chromium concentrations in these cements were analyzed using colorimetric spectrophometry and flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry, respectively. The pH of an aliquot of 20% w/v of cement in water ranged from 11.8 to 12.1. Total chromium content of the 10 brands of cement ranged from 15.9 ug/g to 30.0 ug/g; the hexavalent chromate content ranged from 3.6 ug/g to 25.1 ug/g. These findings were comparable to those reported in Europe and Scandinavia. There was no direct correlation between total chromium and hexavalent chromate content in cement.