Recently, the issue of the harmful effects of nail care products has been posed. In case of cuticle remover, information on hazards of chemical substances is limited and product safety reports are also insufficient. This study evaluated the safety of the top three commercially selling cuticle removers that are widely used in nail care: Blue cross, Zero cleanser and Flower vita cuticle cares. To measure the pH level of cuticle remover cosmetics, distilled water and DMEM. The toxic effect of cuticle removers on cultured HaCaT was identified by MTT-assay. The patch test was performed to evaluate the occurrence of erythema on the patch area according to the criteria of ICDRG after applying the cuticle remover cosmetics (as is). Adherence to the cosmetic pH measurement guidelines, it w as confirmed that the blue cross product did not meet the pH standard of the final product of the domestic cosmetic method. When measuring the pH by diluting DMEM with a solvent, Flower vita product maintained a pH close to Neutral 7.0 overall. All three cuticle removers demonstrated dose-dependent cytotoxic on HaCaT cell. The viability of cells treated with 10 μg/mL Blue cross or 10 μg/mL Zero cleanser was presented below 10%. Otherwise, Flower vita treatment at concentrations of 0.5~20 μg up to 20 μg/mL did not affect the viability (above 70%) in the HaCaT. Of the patch test, there was positive in one case (3.3%) at 2 weeks. It was observed that a doubful reaction (-/+) to Flower vita and weak positive reactions (+) to Blue cross, and zero cleanser. Taken together, it was shown that the Flower vita product have the lowest cytotoxicity in HaCaT cells and slight allergic reaction, proving more safer than other tw o products in vivo and in vitro.
