Contact dermatitis: a common adverse reaction to topical traditional Chinese medicine

Abstract

These results suggest it is likely that essential oils present as constituents of the medicated oils could be the possible allergen. The study also confirms that contact dermatitis is a common adverse event associated with the use of TTCM.

Contact Dermatitis Following Use of Tropical Traditional Medicine

“…The possibility of new allergen formation as a result of interaction between the ingredients within the product cannot be ruled out either. A recent study in Singapore inferred that the presence of essential oils in topical traditional Chinese medications may be responsible for the adverse cutaneous reactions seen with the use of these products (Sen et al 2010).…”

“…(Wong 2002;Sen et al 2010) Contact dermatitis is an inflammatory reaction of the skin due to contact with certain allergens which triggers a complicated pathway of inflammatory mediators. It is commonly classified as irritant and allergic contact dermatitis.…”

“…In Malaysia, there is a high prevalence (about 70%) of traditional and complementary medication usage to treat illnesses and maintain general well-being (Siti et al 2009). Traditional Chinese medications have been identified to cause both systemic and localized adverse reaction (Papafragkakis et al 2016& Sen et al 2010. Although localized reactions are generally mild, rarely, severe reactions warranting hospital admission have been also been reported (Niggemann & Gruber 2003).…”

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“…Contact dermatitis is the most common adverse reaction observed following the use of herbal TCM in the US (Sen et al, 2010). Allergy is another, but less frequent, including allergic shock, asthma, and rhinitis, which are mostly caused by injection (Izumotani et al, 1993).…”

Irritant Contact Dermatitis Risk of Common Topical Traditional Chinese Medicines Used for Skin‐Lightening: A Pilot Clinical Trial with 30 Volunteers

“…However, research has revealed that allergic dermatitis and irritant contact dermatitis are the most common adverse events associated with TTCMs [4, 5]. Many variants of traditional Chinese medical formulas contain complex combinations of individual ingredients from multiple herbal plant constituents (in both crude and galenic extracted forms), thus limiting the scope of clinical investigation [6].…”