Allergic Contact Dermatitis From Ultraviolet Cured Inks

Epoxy Resins

“…Epoxy di(meth)acrylates also have many industrial applications. They are used in UV -curable printing processes (Emmett and Kominsky 1977;Björkner 1984;Gossens et al 1998), in corrosion-resistant equipment, body and structural parts for land transportation equipment, electrical insulation for heavy electrical equipment and in marine applications. In the manufacture of composite plastic products, the epoxy di(meth)acrylates are used after being dissolved in styrene (Anders on and Messick 1985;Janda 1987).…”

“…Despite the increasing use of epoxy di(meth)acrylates in dental care and in industry, relatively few reports of contact allergy due to these compounds have been published (Emmett and Kominsky 1977;Nethercott 1981;Björkner 1984;Kanerva et al 1989;Jolanki et al 1995;Kanerva and Alanko 1998). The sensitised subjects have mainly been workers in the UV -light printing industry (Emmett and Kominsky 1977;Nethercott 1981;Björkner 1984) or in dental nursing . Also, work in the manufacture of UV -curable epoxy diacrylate paints (J olanki et al 1995) and exposure to UV-curable coating varnish containing epoxy acrylate oligomers can induce contact allergy.…”

Acrylic Resins

“…In the printing industry, flexographic printing plates are also manufactured from UV-curable materials (Streitberger et al 2010). In earlier reports of allergic contact dermatitis from UV-cured inks, patients were often exposed and sensitized to TMPTA and PETA (Emmett and Kominsky 1977;Bjorkner et al 1980;Isaac et al 1992). In later reports, TPGDA and/or epoxyacrylates bis-GA and bis-GMA have been the primary allergens (Goossens et al 1998;Scotnicki and Pratt 1998;.…”

“…To detect the specific contact allergy, these compounds should be tested separately, because the patients do not necessarily have a concomitant allergy to DGEBA epoxy resin or acrylates. UV-cured printing inks are a significant source of bis-GA sensitization (Emmett and Kominsky 1977;Bjorkner et al 1980;Nethercott et al 1983;Guimaraens et al 1994;Aalto-Korte et al 2009), and bis-GA in the production of UV-cured paints has sensitized one patient . In these cases, specific exposure to bis-GA led to specific sensitization without allergy to DGEBA epoxy resin.…”

Intervention strategies directed at exposure to organic solvents at worksites: A case study

“…The introduction of UV-cured acrylate varnishes has, however, given rise to new problems like contact dermatitis (Emmett and Kominsky, 1983). The example clearly shows how history repeats itself.…”