Racial differences in acute and cumulative skin irritation responses between Caucasian and Asian populations

Japanese, and Chinese subjects. In this 2nd study, no differences were seen in the acute or cumulative irritation responses between the Japanese and Caucasian subjects. The Chinese subjects showed a heightened response to 10% acetic acid (after 4 h of exposure), but otherwise displayed a similar response profile in the acute irritation test. They showed a slower and less severe response in the cumulative irritation test compared to the Caucasian or Japanese subjects. These divergent results underscore the difficulty in ascribing true population-based differences in skin reactivity based upon studies in limited subject populations. It may be possible to detect differences in individual studies, but repeat testing may fail to confirm a consistent trend. These findings may be indicative of the wide variation in skin responsiveness across human subjects in general.