 OCCUPATIONAL DERMATOSES--A PROGRAM FOR PHYSICIANS--NOTE: This document is provided for historical purposes only.
Page last updated: April 17, 2001
Page last reviewed: January 5, 1998 Content Source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
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Occupational marks or professional stigmata, such as these knuckle pads in a leather buffer, provide distinctive clues as to occupation, but seldom result in disability. Other examples are coal miner's tattoos and violinist's or fiddler's neck.
High frequency pneumatic tools such as chippers, electrical tools, chain saws and grinders can produce Raynaud's phenomenon or "vibration white fingers" among users. Redesign of these tools utilizing vibration dampers has been of some help in prevention.
The hands are affected by paroxysmal attacks of numbness and blanching and pain of the fingers. This phenomenon may also be precipitated by exposure to cold. The initial pallor is succeeded by a slight hyperemia and in some cases by cyanosis. Gangrene and other degenerative bone changes may result.
Physical agents - heat, cold and radiation - are a third direct cause of occupational dermatoses. Heat accounts for burns, sweating, erythema and telangiectasia. Cold can bring on Raynaud's disease, trench foot and frostbite. Radiation causes keratoses, sunburn, radiodermatitis, photosensitivites and skin cancers.
Hot water produced these first and second degree burns on the forearm of a kitchen worker. Immediate ice water immersion would have reduced the depth and extent of the burn.