[Contact dermatitis caused by bergamot oil]

This report is on two patients with contact allergy to bergamot oil, which owing to the volatility of its individual components could only be determined by patch tests after skin stripping. One is a case of occupational disease related to the patient's job in a perfume factory warehouse, and the other is obviously a case of sensitization due to cosmetics. In the former instance patch-test results were positive to alpha-pinene and beta-pinene, and in the latter to citral and alpha-pinene. As could be expected, contact allergy to turpentine oil was confirmed in the first case, whereas the actual eczematogenic in the second case, in which turpentine oil was negative, may have been citral.