What Causes Eczema On Hands Only

Some Basic Things You Can Do At Work To Help Control Your Hand Eczema:

• Avoid allergens or irritating substances in products you use on the job like industrial hand cleansers or waterless, antibacterial cleansers that may trigger your hand eczema, or make it worse. These often contain ingredients like alcohol and solvents, that are very hard on your hands, especially during flare-ups.
• Protect your hands at work with a combination of heavy-duty vinyl or neoprene gloves and cotton glove liners. Regularly wash cotton liners and vinyl gloves if they arent disposable.
• Always carry your own hand cleanser, moisturizer and medication with you, wherever you go.
• Keep your clothes, protective gear, tools and work surfaces clean and free of residue from irritating substances.
• Treat wounds on your hands and bandage them in order to avoid irritation from allergens or chemical substances.

Your doctor may also prescribe a barrier repair cream, or topical steroid to help speed up healing.

What To Do At Home

To help prevent hand eczema:

• Wear rubber or latex gloves to protect hands from harsh soaps and detergents when washing the dishes or cleaning.
• Use lukewarm water and a small amount of mild soap when washing your hands.
• Apply prescribed medicated creams and ointments after washing. Then apply a moisturizer.
• Use a fragrance-free, gentle moisturizer during the day. Some examples are: Dove®, Aveeno®, CeraVe®, Cetaphil®, Eucerin® and Aquaphor®.
• Wear warm cotton gloves outside in cold weather to prevent dry, chapped skin.

HH-I-380 6/15 Copyright 2015, Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Living With Eczema And Atopic Dermatitis

Eczema can flare up when you are under stress. Learn how to recognize and cope with stress. Stress reduction techniques can help. Changing your activities to reduce daily stress can also be helpful.

The area where you had the eczema may easily get irritated again, so it needs special care. Continue to follow the tips provided here even after your skin has healed.

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Treatment Of Dyshidrotic Eczema

Treatments for dyshidrotic eczema are as follows:

• First-line treatment includes high-strength topical steroids and cold compresses systemic steroids also used
• Treatment for bullae : Compresses with Burow solution or 1:10.000 solution of potassium permanganate drain large bullae with sterile syringe and leave roof intact prescribe systemic antibiotics covering Staphylococcus aureus and group A streptococci
• UVA or UVA-1 alone or with oral or topical psoralen
• Topical calcineurin inhibitors
• For severe refractory pompholyx, azathioprine, methotrexate, mycophenolate mofetil, cyclosporine, or etanercept
• Nickel chelators occasionally used in nickel-sensitive patients
• Alitretinoin
• Dietary avoidance of nickel and cobalt for nickel- and cobalt-sensitive patients

Questions To Ask Your Doctor

• What treatment is best for me?
• Should I use a steroid cream or ointment?
• What are the side effects from the steroid cream or ointment?
• Do I need to take any other medicines?
• What is the best way to prevent flare-ups from eczema and atopic dermatitis?
• Is there a certain type of soap I should use?
• My child has eczema. What kind of moisturizer is best for him/her?
• How can I keep my child from scratching the rash?
• I have eczema. Will my children have it?
• How should I care for the rash if I have a flare-up?

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What Questions Should I Ask My Healthcare Provider About Eczema

• How can you tell that I have eczema?
• If I dont have eczema, what other skin condition might I have?
• Is there a specific brand of moisturizer that you recommend?
• Is there a prescription cream that you can prescribe?
• How often should I see a dermatologist regarding my eczema?
• What soaps, lotions, makeup, etc. should I avoid?
• What medications do you recommend?
• What at-home treatments do you recommend?

A note from Cleveland Clinic

Eczema is very normal, very common, and very, very uncomfortable. It can affect your quality of life. At its worse it can keep you from sleeping, distract you and make you feel self-conscious in public. See your dermatologist or other healthcare provider as soon as you start to see signs of it. Explore at-home remedies and prescribed treatments.

Youre not alone! 15% to 20% of people experience eczema or another type of dermatitis at some point in their lives.

Eczema Causes And Risk Factors

Experts arenât sure what exactly causes eczema. Things that may make it more likely include:

• An immune system response to something irritating
• Problems in your skinâs barrier that let moisture out and germs in
• A family history of other allergies or asthma

Know more about the link between allergies and eczema.

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Treatment For Hand Eczema

Severe hand eczema on the palms of an adult male

The best treatment for hand eczema is avoiding what caused it.

Knowing which substances trigger your hand eczema and protecting your hands at home and at work, can help guard your skin against further irritation. The most important thing to remember is to be consistent a daily routine for care and control is the best defense.

If you believe that a substance at home or at work is causing your hand eczema, your doctor can do a patch test to see which allergens or irritants may be the problem. Your doctor can also help pinpoint behaviors or practices that may be contributing to your hand eczema and help you find ways to modify or avoid them.

What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of Eczema

The signs of eczema :

• are mainly dry, itchy skin. Because it is so itchy, it is often called “the itch that rashes.”
• include redness, scales, and bumps that can leak fluid and then crust over
• tend to come and go. When they get worse, it is called a flare-up.
• may be more noticeable at night

Symptoms can vary:

• Infants younger than 1 year old usually have the eczema rash on their cheeks, forehead, or scalp. It may spread to the knees, elbows, and trunk .

• Older kids and teens usually get the rash in the bends of the elbows, behind the knees, on the neck, or on the inner wrists and ankles. Their skin is often scalier and drier than when the eczema first began. It also can be thicker, darker, or scarred from all the scratching .

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Prevention Of Dyshidrotic Eczema

While you cant prevent dyshidrotic eczema, you can do a number of things to avoid or minimize flare-ups.

Avoid triggers, wear cotton-lined gloves when washing dishes and doing other wet work, and keep other skin diseases under control, counsels Kindred.

To this list, Lio adds: Wear lightweight clothing and avoid gloves, socks, and shoes that trap moisture and dont allow your skin to breathe.

Dermatologist Solves The Case Of The Printing Press Operators Hand Rash

When he was 42 years old, the skin on Marks hand became extremely painful and slightly itchy. A rash covered the back of his hands and some of his forearms. The only time Mark felt some relief was when he was away from work for a week.

Because Mark was exposed to many chemicals, his dermatologist started by testing him for allergies. The results showed that Mark wasnt allergic to anything tested.

Hand dermatitis

A solvent caused this rash on this man’s hands and forearms.

So his dermatologist asked Mark about all the tasks he performed at work. One task stood out. Mark was responsible for cleaning the press between print jobs. While cleaning the press, Mark wore gloves to protect his hands from the solvent. Despite wearing gloves, Mark said that his hands often felt wet. When he would remove the gloves, however, he said there was no trace of solvent on his hands.

At this point, any number of things could be irritating Marks skin. His dermatologist focused on the gloves.

The next step was to ask Mark how he used the gloves and how often he changed his gloves. From Marks answers, it seemed likely that the gloves were part of the problem.

During an appointment, Marks dermatologist showed him how to put on and remove the gloves to prevent solvent from getting inside. His dermatologist also recommended that Mark get a new pair of gloves every day rather than once every 4 to 8 weeks.

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Who Gets Hand Dermatitis

Hand dermatitis is common, especially in young adult females, and accounts for 2035% of all forms of dermatitis. It may occur at any age, including during childhood. It is particularly prevalent in people with a history of atopic dermatitis.

Chronic hand dermatitis is estimated to affect 1015% of the population .

Hand dermatitis is particularly common in industries involving wet work or exposure to chemicals such as cleaning, catering, metalwork, hairdressing, healthcare, housework, painting and mechanical work. This is mainly due to contact with irritants, but specific contact allergies can contribute .

Reasons Hand Eczema Flares Up

Hand eczema flare-ups are beyond annoying. It can cause redness, itching, cracks, blisters, and dryness to the point of peeling and flaking, but thats not all.

During a bad flare-up of hand eczema, fingers can swell and hands can hurt. Without proper treatment, hand eczema can become chronic. A severe case could even make it hard to button your clothes or use a computer.

So, what causes flares? Here are five of the most common triggers and tips for avoiding them.

Trigger 1: Exposure to water

Constantly wetting and drying your hands can break down skins protective barrier, especially when you have sensitive skin that is prone to dryness. Even after hands are dried, theres some water left that evaporates. When it does, it reduces skins natural oils, said Dr. Alissa OBrien, a dermatologist at Waters Edge Dermatology. If the water is piping hot, its even more irritating and drying.

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Wear Gloves To Protect The Skin On Your Hands

Wear vinyl or plastic gloves for work that requires you to have your hands in water. Also, wear gloves when your hands are exposed to anything that can irritate your skin. Wear cotton gloves under plastic gloves to soak up sweat from your hands. Take occasional breaks and remove your gloves. This will prevent a buildup of sweat inside your gloves.

Wear gloves when you go outside during the winter. Cold air and low humidity can dry your skin. Dryness can make your eczema worse. Wear clothes made of cotton or a cotton blend. Wool and some synthetic fabrics can irritate your skin.

Treating Eczema On Hands

Major reason for eczema occurrence is when you dont moisturize your skin well and it begins to lose the protective covering that it has. Among majority of the patients, it is this particular reason for improper nourishment that eczema occurs. But with little self-care, you can treat this problem which becomes major illness when delayed treatment is given.

Your self-care for eczema on hands should include the following:

• Diet rich in nutrition and essential fats
• Proper nourishment and moisturizing of skin

Talking from the diet perspective for eczema on hands, you are surely missing on good food which has good fat and nutrition. This is the basic reason that most of health-related problems occur. What you eat and when do you eat is the golden rule for being healthy for lifetime and this has an added advantage as well you spend more on your diet and less on your medical bills!

So talking about the diet, you can include following tips in your daily regime to tackle eczema on hands:

This is all about how you can keep your skin healthier and this makes you fit for lifetime as well. Healthy food and daily routine not only keeps you fit but also prevents cell-aging which is a major cause for skin diseases and dryness.

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Favorite App For Managing Dyshidrotic Eczema

Eczema Tracker

When youre in the middle of a flare-up, its easy to forget how it developed. Eczema Tracker allows you to keep track of triggers and symptoms, and get useful advice for managing the condition. Take a photo of your skin on good days and flare-up days, so you can better gauge the state of your skin today. Local reports on weather and humidity can help you to anticipate future symptoms, and the app analyzes your data to help you find trends that tend to lead to flare-ups.

Additional reporting by Anne L. Fritz.

Complications Of Dyshidrotic Eczema

The complications of this condition can be very painful and disruptive. Sometimes the hands are cracked, fissured, and bleeding, and it can cause lots of pain, says Lio. Some people can’t work due to the severity. I recently had a surgeon with such bad dyshidrotic eczema that he was on disability. I’m happy to say that we got him better and he is operating again.

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Favorite Online Support Networks For Dyshidrotic Eczema

This blog is for families who are managing allergies, asthma, and eczema in their household, with a focus on natural remedies and periodic contributions by medical professionals and other guest bloggers. Check with your doctor before trying any new remedies or products, but consider this site a resource for what your peers may be exploring and finding success with. They also have a private with more than 2,800 members.

The NEA hosts this message-board-driven online forum for sharing support and advice about living with eczema. A keyword search for members posts about hand eczema brings up 927 posts going back over several years. Registration is free.

Research And Statistics: How Common Is Dyshidrotic Eczema

There isnt much recent research about the prevalence of dyshidrotic eczema. But a study published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology in 2015 found that dyshidrotic eczema was the fifth most common cause of hand eczema, behind irritant contact dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis and protein contact dermatitis or contact urticaria.

The condition tends to affect women more than men, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It is most common in adults between ages 20 and 40.

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Treatment And Management For Eczema On The Hands And Feet

A Cochrane review of interventions for hand eczema found:

• Topical corticosteroids and UV phototherapy were two of the major standard treatments, but evidence is insufficient to support one specific treatment over another.
• The effect of topical calcineurin inhibitors is not certain.
• Alitretinoin is more effective than placebo in controlling symptoms, but advantages over other treatments need evaluating.

Most findings were from single studies with low precision, so should be interpreted with caution.

Eczema Coping Tips Good Hygiene

Skin affected by eczema is more vulnerable to a range of infections, including impetigo, cold sores and warts. The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus may cause a secondary infection of impetigo, and possibly contribute to the symptoms of eczema.Suggestions for washing include:

• Take lukewarm baths or showers, and avoid really hot showers.
• Dont use ordinary soap, as the ingredients may aggravate your eczema. Wash your body with warm water alone. For armpits and groin, use soap-free products, such as sorbolene cream.
• Bath oils can help to moisturise your skin while bathing.
• When towelling dry, pat rather than rub your skin.

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What Causes Hand Dermatitis

Hand dermatitis often results from a combination of causes, including:

• Genetic and unknown factors
• Immune reactions .

Hand dermatitis is frequently caused or aggravated by work when it is known as occupational dermatitis.

Irritants include water, detergents, solvents, acids, alkalis, cold, heat and friction. These can damage the outer stratum corneum, removing lipids and disturbing the skins barrier function. Water loss and inflammation lead to further impairment of barrier function.

In atopic dermatitis, a deficiency in or defective function of the filaggrin protein in the stratum corneum leads to barrier dysfunction resulting in water loss and easy penetration by irritants and allergens .

Contact allergy is a delayed hypersensitivity reaction with elicitation and memory phases involving T lymphocytes and release of cytokines .

General Tips For Coping With Eczema

Other tips to manage your eczema include:

• Keep your fingernails short longer nails are more likely to injure your skin when you scratch.
• If the water in your area is hard or alkaline, consider installing a water-softening device.
• Swim in the sea in warm weather whenever you can seawater is known to reduce the symptoms of eczema.
• Use sun exposure for limited periods for example, when swimming at the beach. This can help relieve eczema symptoms. But be aware that ultraviolet radiation is a risk factor for skin cancer and premature ageing of the skin. Also, if sun exposure causes overheating, this can also aggravate eczema.

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Eczema Coping Tips Beauty Products

Suggestions for using beauty products include:

• Remember that even hypoallergenic cosmetics can irritate your skin. Whenever possible, keep your face free of make-up.
• Avoid perfumes, fragranced skin lotions and strongly scented shampoos.
• When using a new cosmetic, try testing it first on a small, inconspicuous area of skin such as your forearm. If you experience a reaction, dont use the product again.

Relief Requires Finding The Cause

Effective treatment begins with finding the cause. Anything that irritates your skin can cause hand eczema. Even something as harmless as water can irritate your skin if you often have wet hands. Many people who frequently have wet hands throughout the day, such as nurses, hair stylists, and plumbers get hand eczema.

Working with chemicals like solvents, detergents, or cement also increases the risk. Hand eczema is common among construction workers and machinists.

Chef with hand eczema

Anything that irritates your skin can cause hand eczema. For example, whenever this chef handles garlic, hand eczema develops.

Hand eczema can also be caused by an allergic reaction. Some health care workers get hand eczema from wearing latex gloves.

You also have a higher risk of developing hand eczema if you had atopic dermatitis as a child.

Because so many things can cause hand eczema, finding the cause can be tricky. Until you find the cause and avoid it, hand eczema can worsen.

Thats why it can help to see a dermatologist. These doctors have the expertise needed to track down the cause, as Marks* story illustrates.

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