[Skin reaction after St Lucia holiday celebration]. / Hudreaksjon etter luciafeiring.

A 37-year-old man developed contact dermatitis on the front head after being exposed to dripping candles. The candles were placed in a crown on his head as he played St. Lucia in the traditional Lucia Day (13th December) pageant, trying to entertain the administrative staff of the University of Bergen where he was employed. Afterwards he washed his head with a soap he normally did not use. Probably the contact dermatitis is a skin reaction to the soap, but it is difficult to say whether the reaction was irritative or allergic. A similar case has not been reported earlier. It is of importance that noone stops celebrating the Lucia Day. However, proper precautions must be taken, with routines for avoiding exposure to stearine or unfamiliar soaps on the head of Lucia.

Serious on-the-track accidents experienced by train drivers: psychological reactions and long-term health effects.

Train drivers run a risk of on-the-track accidents, the outcome of which they can seldom influence. In a postal questionnaire study addressed to all Norwegian train drivers, present health status was assessed by GHQ-12 and three health indices calculated from a psychosomatic symptom list. Train drivers who had experienced distressing on-the-track incidents were asked to report peak intensity of psychological reactions to their most distressing experience, by the Impact of Event Scale (IES). Of 830 respondents, 395 reported distressing on-the-track incidents. Present health status was significantly lower in drivers reporting a former distressing experience compared to others. The higher the recalled IES-scores, the more pronounced health problems were reported. This relationship was most marked for musculoskeletal and psychological symptoms related to the IES Intrusion subscore. A possible causal relationship between traumatic on-the-track experiences and long-term health problems in train drivers is postulated.