Table 3.

Nail technicians full-shift personal and area air sampling results measured with thermal desorption tubes

Analyte†	Nail Technicians Personal Air Concentrations (n = 10)				Nail Salon Area Air Concentrations (n = 8)			ACGIH TLV TWA µg/m3
	MDL	%>	Median	Range	%>	Median	Range
	µg/m3	MDL	µg/m3	µg/m3	MDL	µg/m3	µg/m3
BETX
Benzene	0.16	90	0.46	<MDL-3.4	100	2.4§	1.6–4.7	1,600
Toluene	0.26	100	39	4.8–85	100	21	2.2–105	75,300
Ethyl benzene	0.16	80	0.32	<MDL-2.1	100	0.35	0.21–0.91	434,000
o-Xylene	0.23	60	0.33	<MDL-2.6	88	0.50	<MDL-0.74	434,000
m,p-Xylene	0.35	90	0.79‡	<MDL-7.8	100	0.43	0.52–1.8	434,000
Acrylates
Ethyl methacrylate	0.28	70	24	<MDL-6,900	75	240§	<MDL-5,430	NA
Methyl methacrylate	0.37	80	190	<MDL-2,100	88	205	<MDL-2,580	410,000
Other VOCs documented in nail products
Ethyl Acetate	0.28	100	760‡	140–2,800	100	639	142–2,630	1,440,000
Styrene	0.17	50	0.17	<MDL-0.50	88	0.39	<MDL-0.86	85,141
VOC likely as a fragrance in cleaning products, lotions, makeup, or waxes
p-Isopropyltoluene	0.16	80	1.2	0.12–3.3	90	0.52	<MDL-2.52	NA
d-Limonene	0.53	100	9.3‡	5.3–180	100	6.4	4.2–130	110,000¶
Legacy VOC
Carbon tetrachloride	0.14	70	0.76	0.10–1.5	90	0.29	0.1–1.0	1,078¶
Total measured VOCs
Sum of 71 VOCs		100	2,750	677–7,910	100	1,970	584–6,280

ACGIH TLV TWA = threshold limit values, American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists,⁴⁶ for an 8-hr time weighted average. MDL = method detection limit. BETX = Benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and the xylenes. Sum of 71 VOCs = sum of all analytes identified and quantified by the analysis of the thermal desorption tubes.

^†Analytes listed are those with at least 50% detected samples from SI Table S1.

^‡Personal air significantly higher than area air.

^§Area air significantly higher than personal air.

^¶German limit is reported for d-limonene as TLV is not established; OSHA PEL was reported for carbon tetrachloride as is lower than the TLV.⁴⁵