ABSTRACT

I. Introduction 95

II. DALUK-The Data Base of Contact Allergy 95

III. Materials and Methods 96

IV. Statistics 97

V. Correlations of Hand Eczema and Contact Allergens 98

A. Correlations of the Hand 98

1. The Whole Hand 98

2. Back of Hands 99 3. Palms 100

B. Correlations of the Fingers 100

1. Interdigital and Palmar 100

2. Volar 101

3. Cuticle 101

C. Correlations of the Wrists 101

D. General Comments 101

VI. Other Correlations of Hand Eczema 102

A. Fingers 102

1. Atopy 102

2. Internal Drugs 103

3. Smoking 103

4. Occupations 103

B. Hands (Except Fingers) 103 1. Occupations 103

2. Topical Products 104

3. Age 104

4. Sex 104

5. Smoking 104

C. General Comments 105

References 105

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I. INTRODUCTION

In the literature, only few eczema sites have been correlated to different allergens. One exception is contact dermatitis of the lower leg, which has been associated with many allergens described by several authors mentioned by Cronin.1 Many case reports have been presented regarding contact allergy and hand eczema, but no systematic survey has been presented. A computer makes it possible to correlate various contact allergens to eczema of different parts of the hand on a great number of patients. The data base DALUK2 was set up in 1982 at the Department of Dermatology, University of Lund, Malmö, Sweden and has already been used to perform such a study.3