ABSTRACT
A practical guideline for diagnosing allergic reactions to corticosteroids is presented in ref. In the United Kingdom, in the period 1992-1993, 2123 consecutive patients suspected of contact dermatitis were patch tested with clobetasone butyrate 1% alc. Also in the UK, from 1988 to 1991, 528 selected patients with a positive patch test to tixocortol pivalate or suspected of corticosteroid allergy were patch tested with clobetasone butyrate 20% pet. In this group of 315 CS allergic patients, 25 had positive patch tests to clobetasone butyrate 0.1% alc. It is unknown how many of these reactions were caused by the use of a pharmaceutical product containing clobetasone butyrate and how many were cross-reactions to other corticosteroids. A 36-year-old man, with a long history of atopic dermatitis of the neck, chest and arms, complained of an exacerbation on his neck after applying 0.05% clobetasone butyrate ointment. Patch tests were positive to the ointment and clobetasone butyrate 0.05%, 0.01% and 0.005% pet.
