The use of carvone in consecutive patch testing

Area of Science:

• Dermatology
• Allergology
• Contact Dermatitis

Background:

• Carvone (l-carvone) is a widely used mint-tasting flavoring agent.
• Exposure to carvone can lead to allergic contact reactions in susceptible individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the frequency and clinical relevance of positive carvone reactions in patients with dermatitis.
• To evaluate the diagnostic utility of carvone patch testing.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of dermatitis patients patch tested with carvone between 2017 and 2021.
• Data collected from a departmental patch-test database.

Main Results:

• Out of 3554 patients tested, 28 (0.79%) showed a positive reaction to carvone.
• Carvone-positive patients were older, more frequently female, and often presented with intraoral or lip involvement.
• 50% of carvone-positive reactions were deemed clinically relevant, with some relevance identified only upon delayed reading.

Conclusions:

• A significant number of relevant carvone contact allergies might be missed without specific testing.
• Given widespread exposure, including carvone in standard allergy screening series may be warranted, even with a prevalence below 1%.