Perfume dermatitis in men.

Perfume dermatitis in men has been caused by allergy to preparations applied to the beard area before or after shaving. The author documented 16 cases in a four-year period, with nine occurring in the last year of this study. This suggests a rising incidence. In ten cases, conventional closed patch tests with patients' perfume preparations were positive; however, six patients were photoallergic and required photo patch tests to demonstrate their allergy. For these six photoallergic patients, conventional nonirradiated patch tests were negative. All patients' dermatitis cleared promptly after stopping use of the incriminated perfumes. The identity of the perfume oils responsible for the allergy is unknown.