Glass fiber dermatitis.

Many workers exposed to glass fibers experience an intense pruritus (itching), sometimes accompanied by erythema, erosions, and dermatitis. Patch tests to glass fibers provoked a papulovesicular dermatitis in about 25% of normal persons. Workers in the glass wool industry, whether or not clinically symptomatic, had the same levels of patch-test reactivity. A battery of skin tests failed to identify persons with an increased susceptibility to glass fiber pruritus. Some workers' skin becomes hardened by continuous exposure. This hardening is lost after a one-month holiday but is quickly regained. Barrier creams had no protective value in preventing glass fiber dermatitis.