Background: Topical corticoids are used to treat irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) in man. However, their clinical efficacy remains sub judice. Objective: The effects of corticosteroids on lipid-soluble-chemical-induced ICD in man were studied. Methods: ICD was induced by 24-h patch application of nonanoic acid (NAA) onto volunteers’ forearms. Betamethasone-17-valerate, hydrocortisone and petrolatum control were applied twice daily. Visual grading, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and chromametry quantified responses on days 1–5 and 8. Results: On day 8, with 90% NAA, a slight, yet significant improvement in TEWL was observed with betamethasone when compared to untreated control. Betamethasone also significantly decreased chromametric values on day 8 with 90% NAA when compared to hydrocortisone. Petrolatum reduced LDF values when compared to untreated control at 60% NAA on day 3. Conclusion: The results suggest a slight improvement with betamethasone and petrolatum though their benefit in typical clinical use remains unclear.
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Levin et al. (2002) studied this question.