Contact urticaria from rubber gloves: a detailed description of four cases

Four cases of contact urticaria from rubber gloves are presented in detail. Three of the four patients, including two atopics had present or previous hand dermatitis. The causative gloves were made of natural rubber. Interestingly, one patient also reacted to her synthetic nitrile rubber gloves which the distributor had sold her as plastic gloves, and explanation for this case is discussed. Contact urticaria should be taken into consideration when there is recalcitrant hand dermatitis in spite of regular use of polymeric protective gloves. Manufacturers should give more accurate and reliable information on the composition of the glove materials to distributors and consumers.