Allergy to rubber condom urinals and medical adhesives in male spinal injury patients.

In the National Spinal Injuries Unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, rubber condom urinals, kept on the penis with a medical adhesive, are used for incontinent male patients where possible. However, contact allergy to rubber condoms and/or the adhesives is a common problem and can cause considerable morbidity in paralysed patients. This paper investigates the rubber chemicals and adhesives most commonly implicated in causing contact allergy. The survey was divided into two parts: 1. Patch testing symptomatic inpatients 2. A questionnaire sent to new patients from January 1974 to ascertain the overall incidence of contact allergy. It was found that allergy to mercaptobenzthiazole (MBT)- and thiuram-containing condoms was relatively common and that latex/petroleum tube medical adhesives most commonly caused adhesive allergy. It is suggested that a condom made of the least allergenic rubber and an adhesive causing the least number of allergic reactions should be used from the outset for paralysed patients requiring a condom urinal.