The role of skin testing in the use of collagen injectable materials.

The experience of 400 consecutive patients evaluated for soft tissue augmentation for a variety of contour defects is reviewed here. The first 200 patients were evaluated with only a single skin test prior to treatment, whereas the second group were skin tested twice. The rate of hypersensitivity to the first skin test was the same in both groups, 5 out of 200 (2.5%). In the 195 patients receiving treatment after a single negative skin test, 6 (3.1%) developed hypersensitivity reaction at treatment sites. In the second group, where double skin testing was employed, an additional 7 patients had a positive second skin test (3.5%). There were no allergic reactions in the 171 patients who received treatment after two negative skin tests.