Study of the usefulness of patch testing and use test to predict the safety of commercial topical drugs.

Patch testing (PT) can be used to identify allergens and irritants responsible for contact allergic and irritant dermatitis, respectively. However, the reproducibility of PT and correlation between PT and use test has not been fully evaluated. The aim of the present study was to examine the reproducibility of PT and its usefulness in assessing the safety of topical drugs.