Leather suite dermatitis

Sofa dermatitis

Furniture components can cause contact allergies. In the last years several cases of eczema after sofa contact have been reported. Typically the skin lesions develop on the back, the buttocks, the dorsal aspects of the thighs and arms and are often very resistant to topical corticoid therapy. Dimethylfumarate (DMF) is postulated to be the causative agent for this Type IV hypersensitivity reaction. DMF is an antimicrobial substance, which is used in asian upholstered furniture industry amongst others. We report the case of a 65-year old patient with generalised severely itching maculopapular, partly eczematous skin lesions on the buttocks, back, abdomen and arms. The resistance to therapy, several relapses after discharge from hospital as well as the detailed history lead us to the tentative diagnosis. The sofa dermatitis was proven by positive patch testing with furniture material and dimethylfumarate.

Epidemiological description of an outbreak of dermatitis related to dimethylfumarate, France, 2008

Following similar events in other European countries, some cases of dermatitis related to contact with China-imported furniture possibly treated with dimethyl(E)-butenedioate (dimethylfumarate [DMF]) were reported to the French institute for public health surveillance at the beginning of September 2008. An active multisource case collection was conducted in order to provide an epidemiological description of this outbreak. Results of this investigation show that, in France, mainly during the 4th quarter of 2008, a large number of people presented dermatological symptoms at least plausibly due to a contact with DMF-treated consumer products. The products involved were mostly shoes and sofa (94% of cases). This work offers an example of a multipartner investigation in the field of environmental health. It also shows how the results obtained contributed to decision-making and resulted in the limitation of DMF-treated products in France and in Europe.