IRRITANCY OF ANTISEPTICS TESTED BY REPEATED OPEN EXPOSURES ON THE HUMAN SKIN, EVALUATED BY NONINVASIVE METHODS

The aim of the study was to test the irritancy of 6 antiseptics in an open exposure model. The following agents were tested in their normal use concentrations using open exposures, 2x daily for 4 days in 20 sub jects: chlorhexidine 4% (CH), chlorhexidine 0.5% in ethanol 70% (CE), ethanol 70% (ET), iodine 1% in ethanol 70% (IE), povidone-iodine 10% ( PI) and sodium hypochlorite 0.25% (SH). Responses were evaluated by vi sual scoring, subjective irritancy scoring, stratum corneum hydration (Corneometer), transepidermal water loss and laser Doppler flowmetry. Exposure to SH had to be discontinued after 4 applications because of severe subjective irritation. The same held true for IE (7 application s), whereas the other agents were exposed 8x. All evaluation methods s howed SH to be significantly more irritating than IE, which was in tur n more irritating than CH, CE, ET and PI. Thus, it can be concluded th at CH, CE, ET and PI were nonirritating in this open exposure model.