Palmar skin is not involved in severe atopic eczema

Irritant hand eczema is a well-known risk in adults, who have suffered from severe atopic dermatitis during childhood. We therefore studied the involvement of the skin on the hands in 29 consecutive patients admitted for severe atopic dermatitis. Only 5 of the 29 patients had eczema in the palmar skin (p less than 0.01; sign test). There was no correlation with the existence of hyperlinearity, extent of disease, concomitant asthma, total serum IgE or work.