REPRODUCIBILITY OF A NONINVASIVE SKIN IRRITANCY TEST IN A COHORT OF METALWORKER TRAINEES

The identification of subjects with increased susceptibility to irrita nts may play an important role in the prevention of irritant contact d ermatitis. A short and quick method of non-invasive testing for assess ing irritant sensitivity was developed by Wilhelm and coworkers in 199 0, based on the alkali resistance test of Burckhardt. In order to dete rmine the reproducibility of this screening method, 204 healthy metalw orker trainees were tested 2x according to Wilhelm within an interval of 6 months. No statistically-significant correlation could be shown, indicating that the reproducibility of this screening method is low Th erefore, we propose applying not just a single test for the assessment of skin irritability, but a series of tests, in order to improve the reliability of this kind of testing.