ABSTRACT
Kawai’s method/nitrocellulose replica method is used to predict weak skin irritancy. To observe such a subtle skin damage, Kawai2 observed replicas of stratum corneum microscopically and reported several skin surface changes occurring after irritant application in spite of no visible infl ammatory changes. Using the replica method, we have evaluated over 18,000 commercial products including new chemicals, cosmetics, textiles, etc., and discovered that the incidence of complaints for skin irritation against tested products correlated well with our evaluations for skin safety.3 In this chapter, we address Kawai’s method/nitrocellulose replica method concisely.
