Palmar dermatitis due to a rubber escalator railing

Unilateral Hand Allergic Contact Dermatitis due to Occupational Exposure

Background and Objective:

Hand dermatitis is the most common subtype of occupation-related skin disease. Regardless of its underlying cause, hand dermatitis results in significant impairment and a negative impact on quality of life. Any case of unilateral hand dermatitis should have a high index of suspicion for an allergic contact dermatitis.

Conclusion:

We report two cases of unilateral hand dermatitis. The first case is a 53-year-old female with a unilateral dermatitis of the left hand. The second case is a 53-year-old male with dermatitis of the right hand. Both cases highlight an interesting presentation of unilateral hand allergic contact dermatitis secondary to an occupational exposure.

Occupational peri-ocular contact dermatitis due to sensitization against black rubber components of a microscope

A 24-year-old female working in the Department of Pathology of a University Hospital developed an acute peri-ocular eczema clearly being related to her daily work at the microscope. Patch testing revealed delayed type hypersensitivity against the black rubber mix, N-isopropyl-N'-phenyl paraphenylenediamine, N-cyclohexyl-N'-phenyl paraphenylenediamine and the rubber ring situated on the ocular of the respective microscope. This is the first report, to our knowledge, on peri-orbital allergic contact eczema because of sensitization with rubber components of a microscope.