Asphalt, also known as bitumen, is a viscous liquid or a semi-solid form of petroleum. In cases of hot liquid asphalt splash, asphalt broadly adheres to the skin surface and is hard to remove from skin. Because accidental burns from hot liquid asphalt splash rarely occur, there is no consensus about initial approaches to remove adherent asphalt from skin. We reviewed articles relating to asphalt burns and summarized methods to remove adherent asphalt from skin, including our present case in which we successfully removed adherent asphalt by edible butter and vegetable oil. We summarized information of 127 cases and classified agents used to remove asphalt in four categories: (i) medicines; (ii) health-care products; (iii) foods; and (iv) solvents. Before the 1990s, antimicrobial topical medicines were mainly reported to treat asphalt burns but it took half a day or more to remove asphalt. Mineral oils and edible oils such as butter and vegetable oil are easily available in grocery stores and could emulsify to remove asphalt in a few hours. From the review of articles and our experience, edible oils are useful agents for the first approach to remove asphalt from the point of view of efficacy, safety, availability and expense.
Keywords: asphalt; burn; butter; mineral oil; vegetable oil.
© 2018 Japanese Dermatological Association.