Hilde Kristin Vindenes

We are daily exposed to a number of chemicals both in professional context and in home enviroment. These chemicals may aggravte or cause eczema. Many chemicals in cosmetic products have antibacterial properties. We have analyzed biomarkes in urine as a measure of expousre to chemicals used in various consumer products. We find clear gender difference in reporting use of cosmetic products with women report more frequent use and have higehr uirne concetration of biomarkers for chemicals that have cosmetics as main source. We futher look at the connection between bacteria and allergic and respiratory diseases such as eczema, allergies and asthma.We now plan to investigate how use of cosmetics and disinfectants affects the bacterial composition of the skin and its relation to eczema.