Contact allergy to photoproducts of musk ambrette

A patient with photocontact allergy to musk ambrette was investigated with patch and photopatch testing with dilutions of musk ambrette and 4 other nitro-musk compounds (musk ketone, moskene, musk tibetine, musk xylene) as well as with in vitro ultraviolet-irradiated solutions of musk ambrette. Besides a strong photoallergy to musk ambrette, a plain contact allergy to photoproducts of musk ambrette was demonstrated. An attempt to isolate the photoproducts causing the plain contact allergy was performed by using a preparative thin layer chromatography technique. These isolated photoproducts were not, however, responsible for the contact allergy to the photodecomposed musk ambrette.