Wednesday, 14 October 2015
Hall D1 Foyer (Floor 3) (Coex Convention Center)
Sulfites are in widespread use as preservatives or antioxidants even in cosmetic products. It was published that sodium metabisulfite could be a marker for sulfite allergy in cometics. However contact allergy to sodium sulfite is less well recognized. The relationship with sodium sulfite and cosmetic contact dermatitis is rarely known.
We sought to establish the prevalence of positive patch test reactions to sodium sulfite in our patient population with facial cosmetic contact dermatitis. 130 patients with facial contact dermatitis were included and performed Korean standard patch tests, some of cosmetic patch tests and sodium sulfite patch test.
In result, positive allergic reactions occurred to sodium sulfite in 3.5% of the tested patients. Clinically the patients with sodium sulfite positive reaction showed aggravation of facial symptoms after using cosmetic products including sulfites. Interestingly these patients experienced aggravation after eating sulfite containing food including dried fruit, fried potato and canned food, etc.