Contact allergy to petrolatums

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Abstract
Several chromatographic and spectrometric procedures established that the allergens present in pharmaceutical and cosmetic petrolatums are probably polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These substances are impurities, and the quantity present is largely a function of the source of the petrolatum and the purification procedures. As the aromatic portion in petrolatum is a very complex and unstable mixture of chemically-related agents, only 2 out of the several possible allergens present could be identified: they were most probably phenanthrene derivatives with MW of 230 and 244. [Patch tests with petrolatum in sensitized humans yielded positive reactions to the aromatic portion only.].