In vivo determination of the skin atrophy potential of the super-high-potency topical corticosteroid fluocinonide 0.1% cream compared with clobetasol propionate 0.05% cream and foam, and a vehicle.

Purpose: Prolonged topical corticosteroid use is often associated with atrophic skin changes. This trial compared signs of skin atrophy related to 3 super-high-potency corticosteroids: fluocinonide 0.1% cream, clobetasol propionate 0.

Effects of age on human cumulative irritation responses.

A 10-day cumulative irritation test was conducted to evaluate whether or not test subjects 65 years of age and older would rank eleven test materials the same as subjects 18 to 45 years of age The test materials consisted of mild to moderately irritating chemicals. The test articles were ranked similarly for both groups of subjects. Statistical analysis indicated no significant difference between the groups of subjects.

The 21-day human cumulative irritation test can be reduced to 14 days without loss of sensitivity.

The 21-day cumulative irritation test for assessing the irritancy of topical products and chemicals is a venerable procedure that appears to have become the gold standard for manufacturers. Berger and Bowman in 1982 (1) showed that reducing the exposure to 14 days was less traumatic to the volunteers, less costly, less arduous, and did not affect reliability or the capacity to place the test agents in the proper rank order of irritancy. In the current study we compared (a) the 21-day cumulative irritation test, (b) the 14-day cumulative irritation test, and (c) the 14-day test with every-other-day patching.