Effectiveness of protective creams in preventing allergic contact dermatitis: do they really work?

Despite promising efficacy data for protective creams and many scientifical ly proven advances that have been achieved concerning the prevention of irr itative contact dermatitis, protection against sensitising substances remai ns a particular problem due to the minimal amounts of allergen that trigger allergic contact dermatitis. Therefore, specific allergen-blocking substan ces have been tested which are designed to prevent sensitising processes an d in particular avoid occurrence of contact dermatitis in already sensitise d individuals. In this review, we present the results of current studies mainly focussed o n preventing occupational contact dermatitis caused by metal salts, using d ifferent chelating agents. In the United States allergic contact dermatitis is often due to strongly sensitising plans allergens of Toxicodendron spec ies, a factor of importance in outdoor professions. Therefore, attempts hav e been made to use linoleic acid dimers and organoclay materials such as qu aternium-18 bentonite for prophylaxis in topical treatments, Most studies i nvestigate effectiveness against experimentally induced allergic contact de rmatitis in sensitised volunteers using standardised allergen extracts. Alt hough several preparations showed some benefit by possibly preventing certa in quantities of allergen from penetrating the epidermis, further effort wi ll be required before sufficient protective creams with allergen-blocking p roperties are available for workplaces.