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Perfume Poisoning
How to Know If Your Perfume
Is Poisoning You
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Because so many ingredients included in perfume
aren’t disclosed to the buyer, there are some well-founded concerns over the
chemical reactions perfume can trigger in your body.
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Written by Kathryn Watson
Medically reviewed by Elaine
K. Luo, M.D.
You might think that finding out
what’s in your perfume would be as easy as reading the ingredient label.
But because of laws that protect
fragrance manufacturers from sharing “trade secrets,” almost every perfume sold
commercially is crammed with chemicals that aren’t listed individually on the
product packaging.
Because so many ingredients included in perfume aren’t
disclosed to the buyer, there are some well-founded concerns over the chemical
reactions perfume can trigger in your body.
The good news is that immediate,
irreversible damage to your health caused by one-time use of perfume or cologne
— so-called “perfume poisoning” — is rare.
But exposure to topical fragrances
can trigger allergies, skin sensitivities, and cause harm over time.
Let’s take a closer look at medical
emergencies caused by fragrance products as well as other less serious
conditions that can be related to perfume.
When to seek immediate help
Most perfumes contain high amounts of
ethanol, a type of alcohol that humans shouldn’t consume.
If your child ingests a teaspoon or
more — we aren’t talking about a spritz or two — you need to contact a poison
control center at 800-222-1222, or call your child’s pediatrician, right away.
In the meantime, give your child a
small, carb- or sugar-heavy snack to keep their blood sugar from dropping to a
dangerous level.
While it can be scary for your child
to ingest perfume, it happens pretty frequently and most children recover just
fine.
Symptoms that someone could be
experiencing a serious reaction to a fragrance product include:
·
a spiking temperature
·
boils or large hives
·
drowsiness or a dip in energy
·
confusion
·
dizziness
·
nausea or vomiting
·
slurred speech
·
elevated heart rate
These symptoms warrant a trip to the
emergency room.
Ingredients to worry about
The most toxic ingredient in
perfumes, colognes, and aftershaves tends to be ethanol or isopropyl alcohol.
The scented ingredients in perfume
are infused into these alcohols as a way of preserving and stabilizing the
product’s desired scent.
These alcohols are toxic, and may
cause symptoms if swallowed in amounts greater than 30 milliliters.
If you’ve noticed redness, itching,
or sinus irritation when you’re exposed to a certain fragrance, you probably
have a sensitivity to something in it.
One study conducted by the Environmental
Working Group (EWG) estimated that only 34 percent of stock ingredients often
found in fragrances have been tested for toxicity.
Fragrance products are exempt from
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) testing, which deepens the frustration for
users trying to find out what’s actually in their perfumes.
Perfumes may include:
· respiratory sensitizers that trigger wheezing or asthma
· hormone sensitizers that throw your endocrine system off balance
· secret ingredients that are harmful to your reproductive system
when they build up in your body over time
As mentioned above, most perfume
manufacturers are able to avoid actually listing these toxic ingredients on
their packaging.
With that being said, here are some
ingredient names to look out for, especially if you’re pregnant or know someone
trying to get pregnant:
·
phthalates
·
styrene
·
Galaxolide ketone and other musk ketones
·
ethylene glycol
·
acetaldehyde
·
oxybenzone
Symptoms of perfume poisoning
If you’ve ingested perfume, your
symptoms may be similar to a person who has ingested a high-proof or heavily
concentrated type of liquor.
Here are symptoms to watch out for
that could indicate perfume poisoning:
·
swaying while walking or trouble with balance
·
slurred speech
·
lethargy or lack of energy
·
breath that smells of alcohol
·
nausea or vomiting
Treatment for perfume poisoning
If you or your child have ingested
perfume, a poison control center or general practitioner will have some advice.
You may be told that plenty of water,
a light snack, and carefully watching for symptoms to appear is the best
approach if only a small amount of perfume has been consumed.
For cases in which a large amount of
fragrance has been ingested, you or your child may be kept in a hospital
overnight for observation.
During that time, the affected person
will be given plenty of fluid and light snacks to keep blood sugar from
dropping to a dangerous level.
Within 48 to 72 hours, the danger of
a serious reaction from ingesting perfume will have passed.
Contact dermatitis from perfume
Sometimes a perfume on you or someone
you’re physically close to can cause a mild allergic reaction.
Most often, this reaction occurs on
your skin in the form of contact dermatitis.
If you have sensitive skin, you
probably already know about this condition and what it looks like. Contact
dermatitis is possible whenever your skin comes in contact with an ingredient
(synthetic or natural) that irritates you.
Symptoms of contact dermatitis include:
·
hives or blisters
·
itchy, flaking skin
·
burning or redness on skin
·
sensitivity to touch
Treatment
Contact dermatitis usually resolves
itself before it needs treatment. When you’re no longer in contact with the
substance that’s triggering you, your symptoms should subside.
If they don’t, you can try the
following home remedies:
· washing your skin with gentle, dye-free soap and lukewarm water
· soothing the area with a hypoallergenic, natural product like
calamine lotion, aloe vera, or coconut oil
· using hydrocortisone cream, such as Benadryl, until the itching
subsides
Other reactions to perfume
Contact dermatitis isn’t a medical
emergency, and even ingesting perfume can be treated and lead to a full
recovery. But these are not the only possible toxic effects of perfume.
Some of the chemicals in popular
perfumes may be dangerous if they build up in your body, though more research
is needed.
Styrene, an ingredient found in many
cosmetic products, was deemed a likely
carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program in 2014.
Musk ketone, an ingredient widely
used in cosmetics produced in Europe, has such a low biodegradability in
contrast to its high exposure rate that it’s often found in human breast milk
and fatty tissue.
Whether or not this is dangerous is
unclear.
Some chemicals in perfume are
included for the express purpose of helping your skin absorb the fragrance and
make it last for hours on end.
Exposure to the phthalates found in
many perfumes during early childhood — or even in utero — may pose risks to children’s respiratory
health.
And that’s just what we know about
fragrance chemicals — there’s a lot that’s still unknown.
The EWG evaluates perfumes based on
their ingredients and ranks them based on risk, with 10 being the highest level
of risk a product can pose.
Celebrity fragrances, drugstore and
cosmetic counter brand perfumes, and fragrances branded as “eau de parfum” or
“eau de toilette” are among the worst ranked perfumes based on the available
data.
Perfumes that scored a 10 (most risk)
based on EWG’s system include:
· Katy Perry’s Killer Queen
· Philosophy Living Grace Spray Fragrance
· Nicki Minaj Pink Friday Eau de Parfum
· Adidas Moves for Her Perfume
· marquee fragrances by Givenchy, Vera Wang, and Burberry
The takeaway
Perfume poisoning — toxic reactions
that cause long-term damage to your body because of consuming perfume — are
uncommon among adults who use perfume as a part of their routine.
Temporary allergic reactions to
perfumes aren’t uncommon.
You can even develop an allergy to a
product that you’ve used for years because of overexposure or changes to the
formula’s ingredients.
Look for perfumes that list all of
their ingredients on the label, rather than using the term “parfum” or
“fragrance.”
Seek out products whose scent is
produced by essential oils, or forego fragrance altogether and look for
unscented products.
You can also use resources such
as Madesafe.org and
the EWG’s Skin Deep to help you decide if a product
is worth using.
Kathryn
Watson
is a freelance writer based in New York City. She covers culture, the arts, and
literature in addition to writing about health and wellness. More writing can
be found on her website, https://www.kathrynswatson.com/.
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