It may enter through your skin when you come into contact with liquids containing ethylbenzene. Ethylbenzene vapors do not enter through your skin to any large degree. People living in urban areas or in areas near hazardous waste sites may be exposed by breathing air or by drinking water contaminated with ethylbenzene. Once in your body, ethylbenzene is broken down into other chemicals. Most of it leaves in the urine within 2 days.
Small amounts can also leave through the lungs and in feces.
Liquid ethylbenzene also enters through your skin and is broken down. Ethylbenzene in high levels is broken down slower in your body than low levels of ethylbenzene. Similarly, ethylbenzene mixed with other solvents is also broken down more slowly than ethylbenzene alone. This slower breakdown may increase the time it takes for ethylbenzene to leave your body. At certain levels, exposure to ethylbenzene can harm your health.