ABSTRACT
The human skin serves many purposes, one of which is to provide a barrier between the external environment and our internal tissues and organs. Throughout the course of our everyday lives, the skin is exposed to exogenous materials, some of which may be benecial and others harmful. Examples of exposure sources include consumer articles such as cosmetics [1], textiles [2,3] and carpeting [4], or prophylaxes [5,6]; medical devices for topical therapeutic drug delivery [7] or noninvasive diagnostics [8,9]; and occupational agents such as latex gloves [10,11] and chemicals [12]. These exposures may be intentional and involve direct application onto the skin (e.g., use of cosmetics, topical drugs, textiles, jewelry) or be the result of unintentional contact (e.g., the settling of chemicals from air onto skin or splashing of liquids onto skin in occupational environments).
