Étude prospective multicentrique 1991-2001 de la batterie standard des photopatch-tests de la Société Française de Photodermatologie

Phototoxic and Photoallergic Reactions

“…In most reports, the main topical photosensitizers are the UV filters [3,60,61], which represent 56-80% of the cases diagnosed by photopatch testing [3,[62][63][64]. Furocoumarins from plants are an important source of photosensitivity, mainly in more sunny countries, and drugs are, by far, the most frequent photosensitizers in Southern Europe [62,[64][65][66].…”

“…But, happily, concurrent with this high use, adverse skin reactions from UV filters are not reported so frequently [3]. In recent studies, positive photopatch tests or photoaggravated reactions to UV filters occurred in 5.7-12% of a total of about 2,400 patients tested [4,62,[64][65][66][67].…”

“…In the studies from the 70s till the end of the 90s, most frequent photosensitizers are the UVA filters, oxybenzone (benzophenone 3), and isopropyldibenzoylmethane [31,63,64,67,71]. At present, the latter is not produced anymore, and the other dibenzoylmethane on the market, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, is not such a potent photosensitizer.…”

“…Those sunscreens having a concentration higher than 0.5% must print a warning on the label. Nevertheless, in this setting or as a common ingredient in cosmetics, oxybenzone is still the most frequently used UV filter responsible for positive photopatch tests [4,60,64,67]. Rarely, it can also induce contact photocontact urticaria or anaphylaxis [32].…”

“…Rarely, it can also induce contact photocontact urticaria or anaphylaxis [32]. Sulisobenzone (benzophenone 4) and mexenone (benzophenone 10) induce allergic or photoallergic contact dermatitis less frequently [64,72,73].…”