Hand Eczema - Hand Dermatitis

This is a very common occurring in about 10% of women and 4% of men. Hand eczema, also known as hand dermatitis, starts most commonly with mild dryness and some redness. Scaling can increase leading to fissuring and crusting. Initially the fingers and web spaces are involved.

It can be very itchy. Hands dermatitis is often difficult to treat effectively. It is most commonly seen in those who do a lot of wet work either at home or at work. This condition can be very disabling and can affect the ability to perform at work and home. Homemakers, parents with small children, bartenders, hairdressers, dental workers and surgeons are at risk. The common feature is repetitive wetting and drying of the hands. Cold weather can aggravate the condition. The hands of parents with newborns worsen usually after 3-6 months. Of those with atopic eczema in childhood about 40% will experience irritant hand dermatitis. About 70% of these individuals will have hand involvement if their work involves regular contact with hand irritants.

Subtypes Of Hand Dermatitis:

1. Contact dermatitis – irritant or allergic dermatitis
2. Dyshidrotic eczema
3. Hyperkeratotic dermatitis
4. Atopic hand dermatitis

Advice For Hand Care:

Below is some practical advice if you have hand dermatitis:

• Use a long handled brush for washing the dishes
• Consider using a dishwasher instead of hand washing
• Avoid heating or cooling the skin, sweating within rubber gloves alone can worsen the dermatitis, cotton gloves should be worn inside loose fitting rubber or vinyl gloves
• Avoid the temptation of using very hot water even if wearing gloves
• Wear cotton gloves to do general house work as they can be washed instead of washing your hands too often
• While preparing food try and minimize contact with fruit juice, fruits, vegetables, raw meat, onion and garlic
• House hold cleansers, deodorants, and antibacterial soaps and cleansers should not be used
• Shampooing hair should be done while wearing vinyl gloves, if this is not possible use the hand which is least likely to be involved with dermatitis
• Keep hand washing to a minimum, keep water temperature luke warm
• Avoid harsh or scented soaps, soapless cleansers may be the best to use, E.g. Spectro Jel, Spectro Derm, Cetaphil, Seaquanil, Lipikar Syndet
• Take off rings before wet work or hand washing
• Patting dry is best
• Apply moisturizers after washing, ointments that are clear and sticky seem to work the best but may not be practical, try using a skin protectant with petrolatum or silicone, E.g. Vaseline, Prevex

Back to Eczema - What Looks Like It Index    |    Top of this page