Problems raised by the simultaneous reproducibility of positive allergic patch test reactions in man

The dose of petrolatum patch test material applied with the Leukotest or the Finn Chamber method varies significantly and is one important factor in the lack of reproducibility with present patch test methods. Ready-to-apply methods such as Epiquick and TRUE Test avoid this problem. In a right-side versus left-side comparative study of 19 Epiquick patches on 100 consecutive patients, the reproducibility was 95%. This is a much higher correlation than with previous comparative tests with both identical and different patch test systems.