Allergic contact dermatitis from stearyl alcohol in Efudix^® cream

The Effect of a Scenario based Hand Hygiene Education Program on Hand Hygiene Knowledge, Hand Hygiene Perception, Hand Hygiene Compliance and Hand Hygiene Method in Nursing Students^*

“…Allergic contact dermatitis or immediate contact urticarial reactions may be caused by ethanol or isopropanol (167). Allergic reactions can be caused by compounds that may be present as inactive ingredients in alcohol-based hand rubs, including fragrances, benzyl alcohol, stearyl or isostearyl alcohol, phenoxyethanol, myristyl alcohol, propylene glycol, parabens, and benzalkonium chloride (167,256,(266)(267)(268)(269)(270).…”

Allergic contact dermatitis because of topical use of 5‐fluorouracil (Efudix® cream)

“…Several cases of an allergic contact dermatitis to Efudix® cream have been reported, either with a reaction to vehicle components, 5‐FU (1–5), or serial dilutions or both.…”

“…), sorbitan monooleate (5% pet. ), and 5‐FU in serial dilutions as described earlier in literature (0.1%, 1% and 5% in saline) (1,2). After an early reading 20 min after application, occlusion for 2 days followed.…”

“…It usually elicits a moderate to severe irritant contact dermatitis with erythema and scaling at the site of the application, and symptoms of burning, pruritus and stinging. Although several cases have been reported in literature (1–8), allergic contact dermatitis from Efudix® cream seems to be uncommon, given its widespread use (2). To our knowledge, we are the first to report a series of 14 patients in whom an allergic contact dermatitis was suspected, and in whom the different ingredients of the cream were also patch tested.…”

Hand Hygiene

“…330 Allergic reactions may be caused by compounds that may be present as inactive ingredients in alcohol-based handrubs, including fragrances, benzyl alcohol, stearyl or isostearyl alcohol, phenoxyethanol, myristyl alcohol, propylene glycol, parabens, or benzalkonium chloride. 330,491,588,[603][604][605][606] …”