Face dermatitis from contaminants on a mask for anaesthesia

Allergic and irritant contact reactions to face masks for anaesthesia have rarely been reported. We present a 55-year-old female patient who developed facial allergic contact dermatitis after an operation requiring general an aesthesia. Patch tests showed positive reactions to cocospropylenediamin-gu anidinium-diacetate (trivial name Dodigen 3558), a preservative used in dis infectants for medical instruments. It could be proven that residues of the causative allergen in the disinfectant adhered to the mask. This is the fi rst report of a clinically relevant sensitization to this increasingly wide ly used agent.