Tetracaine hydrochloride (TH) is nominated as the prohibited ingredients in cosmetics in Japanese Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. So the analytical method for TH was investigated by HPLC. After adding 5 ml of TH solution at 10 microg/ml and 2 ml of salicylic acid solution at 75 microg/ml as the internal standard to 0.5 g of the lotion, the mixture was made up to 10 ml with a mixture of water and methanol (1:1) as the testing solution. Milky lotion was procedured as follows: After adding 5 ml of TH solution at 10 microg/ml and 2 ml of internal standard solution to 0.5 g of the milky lotion, the mixture was made up to 10 ml with a mixture of water and methanol (1:1). Two milliliter of this mixture was placed into a centrifuging tube with a cap and 2 ml of hexane was added. After shaking vigorously and centrifuging, the lower layer was used as the testing solution. In the case of the cream, the other procedures were used: 0.5 g of cream was placed into a 10-ml volumetric flask and 1 ml of tetrahydrofuran was added. After dissolving, the mixture of methanol and water (1:1) was added to make up 10.0 ml. Two milliliter of this mixture was placed into a centrifuging tube with a cap and 2.0 ml of hexane was added. After shaking vigorously and centrifuging, the lower layer was used as the testing solution. The testing solution of 20 microl was analyzed by HPLC using the ODS column (CAPCELL PAK C18 column, 4.6 x 250 mm), the mixture of acetonitrile and 50 mmol/l phosphate buffer(pH 2.0)(7:3) and the detection wavelength of 303 nm. The working curves from 0.5 to 6.0 microg/ml showed a linear line between the concentrations of TH and the peak area ratio. There was no interference of peak of TH from the lotion, milky lotion and cream.