Limes are found as a natural product in essential oils and in spices. Limonene is used as an aroma and fragrance. It is also used in printing inks, in the paint and varnish industry. In a larger collective of epicutaneously tested patients with corresponding anamnesis, 5-0% showed a positive patch test reaction to oxidized limonene (test formulation: 0-3% in vaseline) and 5-9% to oxidized linalool (1-0% in vaseline). The substance is found in the epicutaneous test series at: other fragrances; see below Other fragrances (epicutaneous test series)
DKG has so far tested the mixture dipentene, which consists of d-limonene and 1-limonene 2.0 % in vasline. This application form is no longer available as a test substance in Germany. In this respect, a 2% concentration of d-limonene in Vaseline is now (as of 2016) recommended. A limitation of the diagnostic value is not to be expected, especially since the actual allergens are oxidation products of limonene.