VARIATION IN RESPONSE OF HUMAN SKIN TO IRRITANT CHALLENGE

A major obstacle to the establishment of a protocol for in vivo irrita nt skin testing in humans is the apparent variability of responses bet ween individuals. This study of the threshold response of normal human skin to a standard irritant (sodium lauryl sulfate 0.3-10%), in a gro up of 22 subjects, revealed a marked interindividual variation in thei r threshold reaction. The results demonstrate that this phenomenon doe s exist and that it will have to be allowed for in future human irrita nt test systems or assays. (C) Munksgaard, 1996.