Exposure of acrylic fingernail sculptors to organic vapors and methacrylate dusts.

Personal and area samples for organic vapors and polymethacrylate dust were collected in six different sculptured nail salons. Self-administered symptom questionnaires were completed by 20 female nail sculptors and 20 matched controls. Mean time-weighted average concentrations (TWACs) of ethyl methacrylate, isopropyl alcohol, butyl acetate and toluene in 17 personal organic vapors samples collected in these establishments were 4.5, 15.6, 0.4 and 0.8 ppm, respectively. The mean TWACs of polymethacrylate dust in 16 personal samples were 0.9 mg/m3 and 1.4 mg/m3 for respirable dust and total dust, respectively. The only statistically significant (p less than .05) health effect noted among sculptors was throat irritation. Also, nose and skin irritation, drowziness, dizzy spells and trembling of the hands were reported consistently more often by sculptors than the control group; however, the difference was not statistically significant.