title: Irritant contact dermatitis. Traumiterative and cumulative impairment by cosmetics, climate, and other daily loads.
abstract: Based on the results of exposure experiments on living human skin a working hypothesis is launched concerning the possible pathogenesis of irritant contact dermatitis. Below a certain and critical degree of exposure there is no alteration in clinical aspect of the exposed region. However, instrumentally (watervapour-loss measurements, impedance measurements) it is usually possible to register subclinical effects in such a field. These are interpreted as signs of impairment of metabolic homoiostatic systems. It is possible in certain cases to show that the skin is able to adapt its functions to a repeated load (illustrated with exposure experiments to DMSO). It seems useful to distinguish between a traumiterative irritant contact dermatitis (a result of too early repetition of just one type of load; see Aquabrom experiment) and a cumulative irritant contact dermatitis (resulting from a too early repetition of exposures differing in type; see experiment with soap and detergent solutions). In cumulative irritant contact dermatitis the sequence of the different loading factors is of importance: first soap and then detergent or the reverse.
mesh_terms: D002980:Climate; D003358:Cosmetics / Q000009:adverse effects; D003877:Dermatitis, Contact / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003902:Detergents / Q000009:adverse effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D006827:Hydantoins / Q000009:adverse effects; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012915:Soaps / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D003358:Cosmetics; D003902:Detergents; D006827:Hydantoins; D012915:Soaps; C039283:di-halo