Felipe Heras Mendaza

Parabenos: ¿mito o realidad?

Conservar los productos en buen estado ha sido una preocupación de la humanidad desde el principio de los tiempos. En las últimas décadas se han conseguido avances hasta hace poco impensables, aunque el conservante ideal, aquél con un buen espectro antimicrobiano, estable, eficaz en un amplio margen de pH, no tóxico, no irritante y sin capacidad sensibilizante, todavía no ha sido encontrado. Los parahidroxibenzoatos (parabenos o parabenes), como el resto de los conservantes, son un grupo de compuestos capaces de prolongar la vida de los productos, y su uso durante más de 70 años avala su eficacia y seguridad. Su efecto antimicrobiano fue descrito por primera vez en 1924 por Sabalitschka1. Desde entonces, son unos de los conservantes más utilizados en productos cosméticos, farmacológicos y de alimentación. La sensibilización a los parabenos se comenzó a describir en los años cuarenta2,3. A partir de entonces se han descrito otros nuevos casos, lo que ha llevado a la inclusión de estos alérgenos en las baterías estándar de las pruebas epicutáneas. De todos modos, existen múltiples contradicciones a la hora de interpretar la prueba del parche con parabenos, lo que hace más difícil otorgar una relevancia a estos alérgenos, en un contexto clínico que, de por sí, ya suele ser bastante confuso. Parafraseando el título de un famoso artículo del campo de la dermatología de contacto4, hemos querido sintetizar y confrontar las conclusiones a las que han llegado los investigadores que se han ocupado de la sensibilización a los parabenos. Con esta revisión pretendemos aportar algo de claridad al tema o, al menos, exponer las principales dudas que se plantean.

Isotiazolinas: importancia en el desarrollo de dermatitis de contacto profesional

espanolEl Kathon es un conservante resultante de la mezcla de dos isotiazolinonas. Se utiliza preferentemente en la industria cosmetica a concentraciones 3-15 ppm. Tambien se ha impuesto su presencia en productos de limpieza de uso domestico y actualmente a concentraciones mas altas en preparados de uso industrial como aceites de corte, emulsiones de latex, pinturas al temple, reveladores de fotografia y radiografia, aceites para motores Diesel…Todo ello hace que sea un sensibilizante importante en nuestra vida privada y profesional. OBJETIVOS: 1. Demostrar la relacion del Kathon como sustancia sensibilizante en el desarrollo de dermatitis de contacto. 2. Demostrar la relacion entre Kathon y dermatitis de contacto de origen laboral y determinadas profesiones.METODOLOGIA: Estudio descriptivo: revision de las historias clinicas de los pacientes que fueron vistos por el Servicio de Dermatologia Laboral del Instituto Nacional de Medicina y Seguridad en el Trabajo durante los anos 2004-2006; 2333 pacientes, remitidos por diferentes lesiones dermatologicas con posible relacion laboral. Buscaremos los sensibilizados a Kathon y analizaremos las variables: sexo, edad, profesion, enfermedades dermatologica de base, localizacion de las lesiones, manejo de productos que contengan Kathon. Realizaremos el analisis estadistico con el programa SPSS. RESULTADOS: De las 110 positividades a Kathon, 32 son relacionadas con el trabajo (37,2%). Podemos sumarles otros 13 casos dudosos (15,11%) y de estos casos positivos, el 46,6% fueron varones. CONCLUSIONES: El Kathon es un conservante muy utilizado en el mundo laboral, y son precisamente las profesiones que mas productos con Kathon usan, las que mayor numero de casos registran. EnglishThe Kathon is a preservative obtained of the mixture of two isothiazolinones. It is preferently used in the cosmetic industry at 3-15 ppm concentrations. Its presence has increased from the end of the 70s in Europe and from the middle of the 80s in USA. The product presence has also imposed in house-cleaning use and at higher concentrations in the industrial use as motor oils, latex emulsions, painting oils, revealers for photography and x-ray, oils for diesel engines… All of these make it to be an important irritating product in our private and professional life. OBJECTIVES: 1. To demonstrate the relation of the Kathon like irritating substance in producing contact dermatitis. 2. To demonstrate to the relation between Kathon and contact dermatitis of labor origin and certain professions. METHODOLOGY: Descriptive study: revision of clinical histories of the patients who have been observed in the Department of Labor Dermatology of the National Institute of Medicine and Labor Security during years 2004-2006; 2333 patients, found with different dermatological injuries with possible labor relation. We will look for the Kathon-sensitive persons and we will analyze the variables: sex, age, dermatological profession, dermatological diseases, location of the injuries, product handling that contains Kathon. We will make the statistical analysis with program SPSS. RESULTS: Of the 110 positive reactions to Kathon, 32 are related to the labour activities (29.09%). We can add other 13 doubful cases to them (11.81%) and of these positive cases, 46.6% were men. CONCLUSIONS: The Kathon is an additive very used in the labour ambit. The professions that are using more products with Kathon are those with greater number of cases registered.

Recuperación del taller del Museo Olavide: Conceptos y criterios para el diseño

Since the inauguration in 1882, the Olavide Museum had a complex history. There are many aspects still unknown, like the exact number of figures. Moreover, there is no evidence that another artists, in addition to E. Zofio, were contracted for the museum. After many events, in the years 1966-67 the museum is closed. The figures and a lot of documentation about the museum and his founder, Dr. Jose Eugenio de Olavide, were kept in boxes, which remained in several places. Once these figures were localized, the next problem was to have a place to work in the restoration and exposition of them. Thanks to the collaboration of the Escuela Nacional de Medicina del Trabajo (National School of Occupational Medicine), and specially to his director, Dr. Jeronimo Maqueda, we have a place with the adequate conditions to do this work.

Dermatosis profesionales en cuidadores de ancianos

The increasing proportion of elderly citizens worldwide is leading to the development of a new professional group of people who are specialized in elderly personal care. They may have an increased risk of occupational skin damage due to the characteristics of their work that is often associated with regular exposure to skin irritants and constant wetwork. Skin disease studies within this group are rare. Aims: The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the characteristics and dermatologic diagnosis of the patients that work taking care of elderly people studied in our department. Methods: We studied retrospectively all 41 patients who work as elder care-taker who attended our department in a 11-year period. Results: We found an absolute female predominance. The most common location affected was the hands. Of the skin diseases clinically diagnosed, endogenous eczema showed the highest prevalence (39,6%) followed by irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) (27,1%), allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) (12,5%), asymptomatic (10,4%), allergy to natural rubber latex (NRL) (4,2%) and others. Conclusions: Elderly care-taker workers are emerging and they have a great social importance. They are at increased risk of occupational skin disease due to contact with several substances and wet work. In our study, endogenous eczema, represented by atopic dermatitis, is the most important diagnosis. It could be concluded that irritants, occlusion and wet work favoured the development of dermatitis in vulnerable patients that would be remained asymptomatic avoiding this work. New further studies are needed.