Percutaneous penetration of metals and their effects on skin

The importance of metals as potential human health hazard is increasing. They are present in the working places and in the general environment. Moreover the potential exposure of large segments of the population to metal containing compounds in personal-care products should be considered. Metals can cause different adverse effects upon exposure to the skin such as irritant and allergic contact dermatitis, urticaria, granuloma and systemic toxic effects. Despite the dimension of the problem there is a lack of data relevant for dermal risk assessment. Results on the biological effects of metals, in particular their penetrating ability and action on the skin, are widely disseminated in literature. Moreover they are obtained using experimental conditions very different between each other, so comparison of results is difficult. A large part of the reported data on in vivo/in vitro percutaneous penetration of various metals such as Nickel, Chrome and Cobalt was published in the ‘60s and ‘70s and the results were not obtained using up-to dated methods.