Review Article Management of chronic hand eczema

Hand eczema (HE) is one of the most frequent skin diseases and has often a chronically relapsing course with a poor prognosis resulting in a high social and economic impact for the individual and the society. In this article, we highlight the results of an expert workshop on the ‘management of severe chronic hand eczema ’ with the focus on the epidemiology, the burden of severe HE, its classification and diagnostic procedures, and the current status of treatment options according to an evidence-based approach (randomized controlled clinical trials, RCTs). We conclude that despite the abun-dance of topical and systemic treatment options, disease management in patients with severe chronic HE is frequently inadequate. There is a strong need for RCTs of existing and new treatment options based on clearly diagnosed subtypes of HE and its severity. Key words: contact dermatitis; hand eczema; occupation; randomized clinical trials; therapy. # Blackwell Munksgaard, 2007. Accepted for publication 11 April 2007 Without doubt, hand eczema (HE) is a very com-mon dermatological condition that often has a high impact on the affected individual and th