Fragrance allergens in 'specific' cosmetic products

Together with preservative agents, fragrance components are the most important sensitizing culprits in cosmetic products.

To identify the nature of the fragrance ingredients responsible for allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) from specific cosmetic products.

Between 2000 and 2009, positive patch test reactions or positive usage tests with the patients' own cosmetic products, were recorded using a standardised form.

Of the 806 cosmetic records, corresponding to 485 patient files, 344 concerned reactions to fragrance ingredients that according to the label were present ('Presence Confirmed' [PC n = 301]) or suspected to be present ('Presence Not Confirmed' [PNC n = 376]) in the causal cosmetic products used, which belonged to 15 different categories, toilet waters/fine perfumes being the most frequent. Geraniol in fragrance mix I (FM I) and hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde (HICC) in FM II were the most frequent PC, and together with hydroxycitronellal and Evernia prunastri (oak moss) the most frequent PNC ingredients in the causal cosmetic products. Limonene was the most frequent PC confirmed fragrance allergen.

This study not only underlines the usefulness of fragrance-ingredient labelling in order to identify the causal allergen(s) present in specific cosmetic products, but may also provide information on trends in the actual use of sensitizing fragrance ingredients in them.