Allergic contact eczema from topical corticosteroids.

Epicutaneous tests with topical steroids in therapeutic and ten-fold therapeutic concentrations in ethanol were performed in 105 patients selected on the basis of unresponsiveness of their eczema to topical corticosteroids or because topical steroids had provoked eczema around treated psoriatic lesions. Five patients showed allergic test reactions to one or several steroids. One of the two clobetasol-17-propionate sensitive patients reacted to the weak concentration only. The problem related to the instability of many steroids in ethanolic solution is discussed. After one month of storage in a refrigerator, the chromatographic purity of several test substances fell to 95-75%.