SUSCEPTIBILITY TO SKIN STINGING, NONIMMUNOLOGICAL CONTACT URTICARIA AND ACUTE SKIN IRRITATION - IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP

Adverse skin reactions cover many types of response: toxic. irritant. allergic, urticarial, sensory, etc, The relationships between an indiv idual's tendency to develop different types of skin response are not w ell-described. We examined whether those who perceive stinging might b e more likely to experience urticarial, sensory and irritation reactio ns in skin. A panel of 86 volunteers was tested with 10% lactic acid i n the nasolabial fold to assess their ability to perceive stinging. At the same timer their capacity to develop non-immunologic contact urti caria was evaluated using chemicals of different structural type and u rticant ability: methyl nicotinate, benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, cinna maldehyde and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). DMSO was also used to assess sensory effects and skin irritation 44 were classed as ''stingers'' an d 42 as ''non-stingers''. The pattern of urticant reactivity in the st ingers and non-stingers was essentially the same, with neat DMSO gener ating the strongest reactions in both groups. Sensory reactions to DMS O (stinging, itching, tingling or burning) were similar in stingers an d non-stingers; although the former may have reacted more quickly, a s maller proportion reacted (64% versus 76%). The skin irritation respon se to DMSO was also identical in stingers and non-stingers and the int ensity of the urticant response in an individual did not correlate wit h the intensity of their subsequent irritant reaction. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that an individual's ability to perceive skin stinging does not give a general indication of their susceptibility to other types of non-immunologic skin response. Indeed, there appeared to be little evidence of correlations between any of the skill effects studied.