SAN FRANCISCO – Formaldehyde has been named the American Contact Dermatitis Society Contact Allergen of the Year for 2015, Dr. David E. Cohen said in the hot topics session at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Formaldehyde has been a factor in contact dermatitis for a long time, and exposure to it is widespread, said Dr. Cohen of New York University.
However, recent studies have reassessed the clinical relevance of formaldehyde allergy, and a patch test concentration of 2.0% has been recommended by the European Environmental Contact Dermatitis Research group, according to a report published in the journal Dermatitis (Dermatitis 2015;26:3-6).
“Without causing any more irritant reactions, the patch test concentration of 2.0% detects twice as many contact allergies and enables the diagnosis of formaldehyde-allergic patients who otherwise would have been missed,” the authors wrote.