Allergic contact dermatitis to turmeric in kumkum

A forty-three year old house-wife developed dermatitis over the center of forehead following application of kumkum, bindi and sticker (except one brand) since six months. Patch testing with various brands of kumkum and regularly available sticker used by the patient elicited positive reaction except one brand used by the patient. Kumkum is made by mixing turmeric (Curcuma longa) powder with small amount of lime (calcium hydroxide). She was patch tested with turmeric, to which she developed positive reaction. Subsequently she was patch tested with turmeric powder boiled and air-dried and also the acetone-extract and precipitate of the powder. She tested positive to all the extracts and precipitates, but the turmeric powder which was dried by boiling did not elicit positive reaction. She was advised to use boiled and dried turmeric to make kumkum for use. However, the kumkum powder prepared following boiling had lost its adhesive property and hence was unacceptable. She was offered Castellani′s paint and eosin with starch for application. Both were acceptable for 2 months, but she subsequently developed irritant reaction to the paint with starch. She continues to use the non-allergic sticker (Kanchan sticker kumkum) while we are trying to find other alternatives to kumkum

Detection of Steroids in Topical Fairness Preparations Using Histamine Wheal Test

Topical corticosteroid (TC) abuse is a common, worldwide, problem. One of the recent emerging concerns is the adulteration of TC in fairness cream. The presence of TC in skin-whitening cosmetic creams can be detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Since HPLC is expensive, time-taking and not easily available, we suggest the use of histamine wheal test as a simple and inexpensive test to detect the presence of topical steroids in fairness cream