Contact dermatitis due to ethoxyquin.

Ethoxyquin is an antioxidant used to preserve animal feed (especially pig feed), sauces, salad creams, canned and frozen food, which can be a cause of contact dermatitis. Several cases have been reported, mostly from the Great Britain, Belgium and Portugal. In Denmark, where ethoxyquin was found to be responsible for contact dermatitis in apple packers, when used to prevent apple scald. The article discusses the case of a 21-year old female student with a pruritic erythematous vesicular dermatitis, starting periorally and on the backs and sides of the fingers of the right hand and subsequently spreading to the same areas of the left hand.