↓ Skip to main content

Safety evaluation of topical applications of ethanol on the skin and inside the oral cavity

Overview of attention for article published in Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, November 2008
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • One of the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#6 of 419)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (80th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
16 news outlets
twitter
46 X users
patent
9 patents
facebook
5 Facebook pages
wikipedia
2 Wikipedia pages
video
3 YouTube creators

Citations

dimensions_citation
206 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
373 Mendeley
citeulike
1 CiteULike
connotea
1 Connotea
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Safety evaluation of topical applications of ethanol on the skin and inside the oral cavity
Published in
Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, November 2008
DOI 10.1186/1745-6673-3-26
Pubmed ID
Authors

Dirk W Lachenmeier

Abstract

Ethanol is widely used in all kinds of products with direct exposure to the human skin (e.g. medicinal products like hand disinfectants in occupational settings, cosmetics like hairsprays or mouthwashes, pharmaceutical preparations, and many household products). Contradictory evidence about the safety of such topical applications of the alcohol can be found in the scientific literature, yet an up-to-date risk assessment of ethanol application on the skin and inside the oral cavity is currently lacking.The first and foremost concerns of topical ethanol applications for public health are its carcinogenic effects, as there is unambiguous evidence for the carcinogenicity of ethanol orally consumed in the form of alcoholic beverages. So far there is a lack of evidence to associate topical ethanol use with an increased risk of skin cancer. Limited and conflicting epidemiological evidence is available on the link between the use of ethanol in the oral cavity in the form of mouthwashes or mouthrinses and oral cancer. Some studies pointed to an increased risk of oral cancer due to locally produced acetaldehyde, operating via a similar mechanism to that found after alcoholic beverage ingestion.In addition, topically applied ethanol acts as a skin penetration enhancer and may facilitate the transdermal absorption of xenobiotics (e.g. carcinogenic contaminants in cosmetic formulations). Ethanol use is associated with skin irritation or contact dermatitis, especially in humans with an aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) deficiency.After regular application of ethanol on the skin (e.g. in the form of hand disinfectants) relatively low but measurable blood concentrations of ethanol and its metabolite acetaldehyde may occur, which are, however, below acute toxic levels. Only in children, especially through lacerated skin, can percutaneous toxicity occur.As there might be industry bias in many studies about the safety of topical ethanol applications, as well as a general lack of scientific research on the long-term effects, there is a requirement for independent studies on this topic. The research focus should be set on the chronic toxic effects of ethanol and acetaldehyde at the point of impact, with special regard to children and individuals with genetic deficiencies in ethanol metabolism.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 46 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 373 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Germany 1 <1%
Indonesia 1 <1%
Pakistan 1 <1%
Italy 1 <1%
Brazil 1 <1%
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Japan 1 <1%
United States 1 <1%
Unknown 365 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 64 17%
Student > Master 46 12%
Researcher 35 9%
Student > Ph. D. Student 32 9%
Student > Postgraduate 16 4%
Other 54 14%
Unknown 126 34%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 50 13%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 50 13%
Chemistry 36 10%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 27 7%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 18 5%
Other 52 14%
Unknown 140 38%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 177. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 January 2024.
All research outputs
#228,057
of 25,401,784 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology
#6
of 419 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#447
of 100,158 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology
#2
of 5 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,401,784 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 419 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 100,158 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 5 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 3 of them.