OEESC-2005--summing up on the theme irritants and wet work.

The aim of this paper was to summarize the presentations and discussions on the theme Irritants and Wet Work at the second conference on Occupational and Environmental Exposures of Skin to Chemicals held in Stockholm June 2005 (OEESC-2005) to bring the focus points to a broader group of professionals and stimulate further discussions. Occupational skin diseases are common diseases with a huge potential for prevention. The risk factors are mostly well known, and the ongoing high occurrence of occupational skin diseases may be seen as a paradox problem. Although all mechanisms involved in occupational skin diseases are not shown throughout, much is known. The existing knowledge justifies the relevance of reducing exposure and introducing prevention programmes. The questions identified for further research included an internationally agreed-upon definition of wet work; better methods to assess the exposure to wet work; the effect of combined exposure to water and water-soluble irritants; the importance of wet work with frequent/short wet-dry cycles versus working longer periods with wet hands; testing skin protection and skin care products; long-term skin effects from alcohol-based hand disinfectants; workplace testing of evidence-based prevention programmes in prospective randomized, controlled intervention studies.