THE INFLUENCE OF PATCH TESTS WITH CLOBETASOL PROPIONATE ON ADJACENT PATCH TEST REACTIONS

Contact allergy to corticosteroids now seems frequent among patients b eing patch tested. As corticosteroids are intrinsically anti-inflammat ory, we investigated whether patch tests with a potent corticosteroid might suppress simultaneous adjacent patch test reactions to another a llergen. Nickel-sensitive subjects were patch tested with an aqueous d ilution series of nickel in duplicate, adjacent to patch tests with cl obetasol propionate 1% in ethanol and with ethanol, respectively Stati stical evaluation of the results obtained in 2 different centers, usin g their own patch test techniques, did not reveal any suppression of t he positive nickel patch test reactions.