Winter season, frequent hand washing, and irritant patch test reactions to detergents are associated with hand dermatitis in health care workers.

Background: Irritant hand dermatitis (IHD) is common in health care workers.

Objective: We studied endogenous irritant contact dermatitis threshold by patch testing and exogenous factors such as season and hand washing for their association with IHD in health care workers.

Methods: Irritant patch testing with sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium hydroxide, and benzalkonium chloride at varying concentrations was measured in 113 health care workers.

Effects of pimecrolimus versus triamcinolone on Langerhans cells after UV exposure.

Background/purpose: Pimecrolimus is a topical immunomodulator for atopic dermatitis. Concerns regarding malignancy risk resulted in its black box warning in 2006. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of pimecrolimus on Langerhans cells (LC), mediators of the cutaneous immunity UV-irradiated skin.

Anti-angiogenic effects of epigallocatechin-3-gallate in human skin.

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the main polyphenol component of green tea. This compound exhibits antioxidant, immunomodulatory, photoprotective, anti-angiogenic, and anti-inflammatory properties. We conducted a small randomized, double blind, split face trial using a cream containing 2.

Topical application of green and white tea extracts provides protection from solar-simulated ultraviolet light in human skin.

Background: Tea polyphenols have been found to exert beneficial effects on the skin via their antioxidant properties.

Aims: We sought to determine whether topical application of green tea or white tea extracts would prevent simulated solar radiation-induced oxidative damages to DNA and Langerhans cells that may lead to immune suppression and carcinogenesis.

Methods: Skin samples were analysed from volunteers or skin explants treated with white tea or green tea after UV irradiation.

Review of extracorporeal photopheresis in early-stage (IA, IB, and IIA) cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Background: Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) has been used for nearly 20 years for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). A substantial body of literature reports that this form of photoimmunotherapy improves or stabilizes the course of disease in a subset of patients across all stages. However, current clinical approach usually reserves ECP for patients who do not respond to other treatments or for patients with late-stage disease or Sézary syndrome (SS).