Skin contamination as pathway for nicotine intoxication in vapers

•Skin contamination by e-liquids containing nicotine at 1,8% leads to dermal absorption and deposition of nicotine in skin.•Nicotine uptake from skin contaminated by e-liquids can lead to minor health illness in vapers.•Caution must be paid to dermal contamination by e liquids in children.•Skin cleaning reduces transdermal penetration and dermal accumulation of nicotine.

Growing warnings on health effects related to electronic cigarettes have met inconclusive findings at present. This study analyzed the in vitro percutaneous absorption of nicotine resulting by skin contamination with two e-liquids (refill 1 and 2) containing nicotine at 1.8%. Donor chambers of 6 Franz cells for each refill liquid were filled with 1 mL of nicotine e-liquid for 24 h; at selected intervals, 1.5 mL of the receptor solutions were collected for nicotine concentration analysis by mean gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LOD: 0.01 μg/mL). The experiment was repeated removing the nicotine donor solution after 10 min from the application and rinsing the skin surface three times with 3.0 mL of milliQ water. A total of 12 cells with 24 h exposure and 12 cells washed were studied. The mean concentration of nicotine in the receiving phase at the end of the experiment was 54.9 ± 29.5 and 30.2 ± 18.4 μg/cm2 for refill 1 and 2 respectively and significantly lower in washed cells (4.7 ± 2.4 and 3.5 ± 1.3 μg/cm2). The skin absorption of nicotine can lead to minor health illness in vapers, while caution must be paid to dermal contamination by e liquids in children. The skin cleaning significantly reduced the transdermal absorption kinetic and intradermal deposition of nicotine.