Phototoxic textile dermatitis ("bikini dermatitis")

Phototoxic textile dermatitis with subsequent hyperpigmentation developed in two patients after they wore bikini bathing suits. After extraction of the dye from the bathing suits, 15 fractions could be visualized by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography. Two of these fractions are found in Disperse Blue 35, an anthraquinone dye known to give rise to occupational phototoxic dermatitis, but which, to our knowledge, has never been reported to cause dermatitis in consumers. One of the two fractions was also found to cause phototoxic reactions in normal subjects.