Interventions for hand eczema.

Background: Hand eczema is an inflammation of the skin of the hands that tends to run a chronic, relapsing course. This common condition is often associated with itch, social stigma, and impairment in employment. Many different interventions of unknown effectiveness are used to treat hand eczema.

Alitretinoin and acitretin in severe chronic hand eczema; results from a retrospective daily practice study.

Acitretin has been used off-label for years to treat chronic hand eczema, but acitretin is less often prescribed as alitretinoïne was approved. This study evaluates both retinoids in a daily practice cohort of patients with severe chronic hand eczema in terms of drug survival and reasons for discontinuation. Patients using alitretinoin or acitretin between 01-01-1994 and 01-08-2015 were included in this retrospective daily practice study and analyzed by Kaplan-Meier drug survival curves.

The optimal patch test concentration for ascaridole as a sensitizing component of tea tree oil.

Background: Tea tree oil is used as a natural remedy, but is also a popular ingredient in household and cosmetic products. Oxidation of tea tree oil results in degradation products, such as ascaridole, which may cause allergic contact dermatitis.

Objectives: To identify the optimal patch test concentration for ascaridole, and to investigate the relationship between a positive reaction to ascaridole and a positive reaction to oxidized tea tree oil.