Acrylic Reactions — Ten-Years’ Experience

Abstract

Sixteen cases of adverse reactions to acrylics seen over a 10-year period reflect the increasing use of these chemicals for industrial and consumer application. Fourteen patients had contact dermatitis typically of the hands and/or face (11 allergic, 1 ir-ritant, and 2 undetermined) and two had nail dystrophy. Sources of the acrylics were nail chemicals (5 cases), adhesives (3 cases), research laboratories (3 cases), dental acrylics (3 cases), histology embedding medium (1 case), and printing plates (1 case). Eleven cases were occupational. Highest patch-test reactivity rates were for THFMA, HPMA, EGDMA, HDDA, and TMPTM. In screening for acrylic allergy MMA, n-AA and PEGDMA are suggested as a minimum.