BACKGROUND Cobalt has been shown to induce mainly asthma, allergic contact dermatitis and hard metal disease. The data on cobalt asthma are mainly based on case reports. AIMS To characterize all the cases of occupational cobalt asthma encountered in a cobalt plant at the time of diagnosis and 6 months later. We also evaluated the incidence of cobalt asthma in different departments on the basi...

BACKGROUND Contact sensitization to fragrances is common both in clinical and in population samples. The spectrum of allergens is broad and diverse, and to some extent covered by a set of screening agents. OBJECTIVES To examine the current frequency of contact sensitization to fragrance allergens in patients routinely patch tested for suspected allergic contact dermatitis with the baseline se...

PURPOSE Tear exchange under a soft contact lens is directly related to the amount of lateral and transverse lens motion. Hydrodynamic modeling suggests that channels placed on the back surface of a soft lens will reduce fluid resistance and increase transverse lens movement. This study measured the effect of posterior lens surface scalloped channels on tear exchange. METHODS Tear exchange in ...

Allergic contact dermatitis due to fragrances usually manifests as subacute or chronic dermatitis because fragrances are found in a wide range of products to which patients are repeatedly exposed. The typical patient is a middle-aged woman with dermatitis on her hands and face, although other sites may be affected depending on the allergen and the product in which it is found. The standard patc...

PURPOSE To investigate the effect of low-addition soft contact lenses (CLs) with decentered optical design on the progression of myopia in children in a pilot study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Twenty-four Japanese children age 10-16 years with baseline myopia of -0.75 to -3.50 D sphere and ≤1.00 D cylinder were studied. The new CLs were designed to have a nasal decentration with the optical center ...

An 11-year-old girl presented with a history of two episodes of facial eczema, which developed 1 day after the application of make-up that was removed with ‘hypoallergenic’ facial wipes. She was patch tested with the British Society for Cutaneous Allergy baseline series, a facial series (Chemotechnique Diagnostics, Vellinge, Sweden), and the facial wipes (the only ‘own’ product made available f...

AIMS To report the clinical findings and visual outcome of patients with extended wear contact lens (EWCL) related bacterial keratitis. METHODS 11 cases with EWCL related bacterial keratitis were included. Corneal scrapings were obtained for cytology and cultures. RESULTS Nine patients had unilateral bacterial keratitis and two patients showed bilateral involvement. Corneal scrapings reveal...

PURPOSE We studied whether pupil size affects the flicker electroretinograms (ERGs) recorded by RETeval, a new mydriasis-free full-field flicker ERG system. METHODS We studied 10 healthy subjects. The RETeval manufacturer claims that the system delivers a constant flash retinal illuminance by adjusting the flash luminance to compensate for changes in the pupil size. Two experiments were perfo...

Corticosteroids are the most widely used class of drugs in dermatology. In the past, allergic contact dermatitis to topical corticosteriods was rarely reported. In this article, we present a case of delayed type hypersensitivity to triamcinolone acetonide.

Few published reports have described occupational contact dermatitis from proton pump inhibitor (PPI) exposure in the literature. We present an additional case of a 58-year-old male pharmaceutical worker with an occupational airborne allergic contact dermatitis to PPIs confirmed by patch testing. This is a novel report of workplace exposure to dexlansoprazole and esomeprazole PPIs with resultan...