In the spring of 1956 an unusual eruption occurring in the axillas of four patients after the use of certain deodorants was described by dermatologists at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.1 The eruption consisted of numerous small (1 to 4 mm.) dusky reddish-brown papules "closely set in the dome of the axillas but more discrete at the periphery." Itching was mild. In six months the lesions flattened slowly, but considerable hyperpigmentation remained. Histopathologic examination revealed "a characteristic granuloma suggesting a tuberculoid reaction." An additional 11 cases were subsequently observed. Three of the original four patients had used a stick-type deodorant containing zirconium; the fourth used a lotion-type deodorant containing chlorhydroxyaluminum sulfate but no zirconium. No foreign material could be seen on polariscopic examination, nor could zirconium be detected by spectrographic analysis. Although zirconium was immediately suspected as the source of the eruption,