The regular use of soaps and synthetic detergents has been associated with skin dryness and aggravation of dermatological conditions.

Our purpose was to investigate the irritancy of 10 hand dishwashing liquids on normal skin.

The skin changes, responding to repeat patch testing with 10 hand dishwashing liquids, were measured by visual scoring.

The results are summarized as follows;

1. Of the 16 healthy volunteers 8 had reactions. 5 women and 3 men, but there was no significant difference in irritancy between men and women.

2. The mean irritancy scores of the 10 hand dishwashing liquids ranged from 0.06 to 0.88.

3. A prominent increase in the degree of erythema in the first 24 hour patch test did not persist beyond exposure day 5, but after day 5, augmented responses of the erythema and scales, even fissuring occurred.

4. The pH of the test solutions of the hand dishwashing liquids ranged from 5.0 to 6.0, but there appeared to be no correlation between pH and irritancy in the dishwashing liquids tested.

Our data suggests that regular exposure to hand dishwashing liquids may cause disturbances of the skin in a substantial proportion of individuals, and workers should use hand dishwashing liquids in lower concentrations than recommended and only for short periods with protective measures.