Fragrance allergy: assessing the safety of washed fabrics.

Background: Previously, a quantitative risk assessment suggested there was no risk of induction of fragrance allergy from minor residues of fragrance chemicals on washed fabrics.

Objective: To investigate whether there was any risk of the elicitation of contact allergy from fragrance chemical residues on fabric in individuals who were already sensitized.

Methods: Thirty-six subjects with a positive patch test to isoeugenol (n = 19) or hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde (n = 17) were recruited.

Fragrance allergy: assessing the risk from washed fabrics.

The prevalence of contact allergy to fragrance ingredients increased during the last part of the 20th century with the consequence that a substantial number of individuals are at risk of experiencing allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) if they have a sufficient degree of skin exposure to the chemical to which they have become sensitized. Such exposure does not necessarily have to arise from the type of source that originally induced the sensitization. A number of sources of exposure are clearly associated with risk of elicitation of ACD, but the role of fragrance deposited on fabrics, for example as a result of laundry processes, also can be questioned.