CONTACT ALLERGY TO DEXPANTHENOL - A REPORT OF 7 CASES AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Dexpanthenol desires widespread use in medical and cosmetic applicatio ns for its wound-healing and cell growth stimulating activity. Neverth eless reports about contact dermatitis om dexpanthenol are rare in the literaure. We report seven cases of contact dermatitis, in which dexp anthenol was the causative agent and induced clinically relevant sensi tizations. We also discuss other cases described in the literature. Co ntact sensitization to dexpanthenol is not frequent but mostly of clin ical importance in encountered cases. We therefore propose to include dexpanthenol in the patch test series of externally applied medicament s.