CONTACT DERMATITIS DUE TO CINNAMON

Abstract

Dermatitis due to cinnamon oil is either a rare event or one rarely reported. Only six references to dermatitis from cinnamon or cinnamon oil have been found. White¹attributed a dermatitis of the hands, face and abdomen of a young woman to cinnamon (cassia) oil used to flavor toothpicks. Tulipan²obtained positive reactions to patch tests with cinnamon and cinnamon sugar in a baker with dermatitis of the hands. Silvers³reported a case of stomatitis and dermatitis due to sensitivity to clove oil and cinnamon oil. Miller⁴observed cheilitis in a woman exposed to the vapor of cinnamon oil; a patch test with a 2 per cent alcoholic solution of cinnamon oil gave strongly positive reactions, and a fume test with a 1 per cent alcoholic solution of the oil also gave a strong reaction on the forearm in seven hours. Howell,⁵in a tabulation