FC01.6 Hand dermatitis of hairdressers. Study of protective gloves permeation

Contact dermatitis among hairdressers is common and is one of the most frequent occupational dematoses due to continual exposure to water, detergents, hair dyes, permanent waves and metal equipment. Use of individual protection systems – as gloves – is considered a good measure of prevention. Few data exist about the real permeation resistance (PR) of gloves, also in term of time of PR. We tested two types of djsposable latex gloves different by thickness and density of the manufacture material. We used a permeation cell composed of two separated parts: in the upper part we introduced the hair colouring formulation and in the lower one the collection medium (NaHSO3 1% in water); the two parts were separated by a portion of the glove material. A 100 microL volume of the collection medium was collected and injected onto a HPLC apparatus after 1, 2, 4 and 24 hours. A diode array detector was utilised selecting two wavelengths in the UV range (240 and 275 nm) with a linear concentration gradient up to 60% of methanol/acetonitril mixture. We can simultaneously analyse 9 oxidation dyes and the detection limits were sufficient to determine these substances at very low concentrations. We obtained respectively a breakthrough time less than 24 hours for the lower thickness glove and of over 24 hours for the other one; the latex gloves are suitable for prevent the skin contamination during the preparation of the colourings mixture in the hairdresser activity. The obtained data show those latex gloves, of both thickness, have a very high PR. On the other hand, the use of latex gloves has been associated with the more frequent recognition of immediate-type hypersensitivity responses related to latex products. The prosecution of the study will evaluate the PR of latex-free gloves.