[Contact allergy to rubber, surgical and vinyl gloves]

Thirty-one patients with a contact allergy to gloves made from rubber or vinyl were investigated in a retrospective and prospective study. Sensitivity to rubber gloves used in the household and in industry occurred most frequently (64%), followed by surgical gloves (26%) and vinyl gloves (10%). Health service worker and housewife were the professions in which the allergy was most frequently present. The main sensitizers were found to be the rubber accelerators of the thiuram and carbamate group. A series of various gloves (household, surgical, vinyl) yielded extremely different results when tested epicutaneously on the rubber-sensitized individuals. Vinyl gloves, surgical gloves made from pure latex or surgical gloves with an inner plastic coating may alternatively be used by these patients.