CHILDHOOD INJURIES FROM ARTIFICIAL NAIL PRIMER COSMETIC PRODUCTS

Background: Methacrylic acid-containing primers used in artificial nai l cosmetic products are typically not contained in child-resistant pac kaging, although they are sold to the general public. Objective: To an alyze the type and severity of childhood poisoning injuries involving methacrylic acid-containing artificial nail primers. Design; Secondary analysis of 2 national, population-based injury data sets. Setting: T he 1991 through 1993 National Electronic Injury Surveillance System da ta on emergency department visits compiled by the Consumer Product Saf ety Commission and the 1993 through 1995 Toxic Exposure Surveillance S ystem data on calls to poison control centers compiled by the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Subjects: Children younger tha n 6 years with injuries associated with exposures to nail primers. Res ults: In the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, there wer e 769 exposures to nail preparations, 32 (4.2%) of which involved nail primers. Twenty-eight (87.5%) of 32 nail primer exposures involved ch ildren younger than 6 years. Of the severe nail primer injuries, 80% i nvolved preschoolers; most of the injuries were dermal burns. In the T oxic Exposure Surveillance System data set, there were 759 methacrylic acid-containing nail product exposures, of which 567 (74.7%) occurred in children younger than 6 years. Of exposures in preschool children, 56 (9.9%) resulted in moderate severity injuries and 3 (0.5%) in ''ma jor'' injuries; there were no deaths. Conclusions: Artificial nail pri mers containing methacrylic acid represent a corrosive hazard to young children and have been associated with severe injuries. New product l abeling and packaging regulations and public education measures that r ecognize this hazard are recommended.