Accelerator-free gloves as alternatives in cases of glove allergy in healthcare workers.

BACKGROUND: Accelerators in rubber gloves constitute an important group of contact allergens, particularly in healthcare workers. OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of accelerator-free medical gloves in the secondary prevention of allergic contact dermatitis caused by rubber accelerators in healthcare workers. METHODS: Nine healthcare workers with hand eczema were advised to use accelerator-free rubber gloves after a diagnosis of allergic contact dermatitis caused by rubber accelerators. RESULTS: Switching from conventional medical single-use gloves containing accelerators to accelerator-free medical gloves led to improvement in all cases, and more than two-thirds of the patients were completely free of symptoms. CONCLUSION: The use of accelerator-free medical gloves can be an effective alternative in healthcare workers who are allergic to rubber accelerators.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma Following Photodynamic Therapy for Cutaneous Bowen's Disease in a Series of 105 Patients.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an alternative to surgery for Bowen's disease. This monocentric retrospective study included 105 patients with Bowen's disease, treated with PDT between 2007 and 2013, who received a total of 151 different PDT fields. Comparison of immunocompromised and non-immunocompromised patients revealed that the former often had a previous history of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC; p = 0.004) and received more PDT fields (p = 0.007) than the latter. At least one SCC occurred post-PDT in 16 out of 105 patients in a PDT field. However, many of the patients were at risk of SCC and the possibility that the lesion did not have a mixed histology at baseline, but might simply be a transformation of non-PDT-responsive Bowen's disease, cannot be excluded. Although it is rare, patients should be closely monitored for SCC post-PDT.