Occupational Contact Dermatitis in the Post-COVID Era: From Barrier Dysfunction and Microbiome Dysbiosis to Prevention and Precision Management.

Narrative review integrating mechanistic, clinical, and preventive evidence on occupational contact dermatitis

“This article is a narrative review and does not follow a formal systematic-review protocol or PRISMA reporting; its aim was to integrate mechanistic, clinical, and preventive evidence on occupational contact dermatitis into a coherent synthesis rather than to answer a single narrowly framed question.”

Occupational contact dermatitis, with emphasis on healthcare workers, hairdressers, metalworkers, cleaners, and construction workers

“Certain occupations carry a disproportionate share of risk—healthcare workers, hairdressers, metalworkers, food handlers, cleaners, and construction workers chief among them—and for many of these, hand eczema is a leading cause of job change or premature exit from the trade.”

Not applicable; the review synthesized data from multiple studies including a meta-analysis of 826,543 patch-tested patients and a systematic review of 106 studies

“A meta-analysis of 106 studies and 826,543 patch-tested patients found pooled prevalences of 2.55% for thiuram mix, 0.86% for mercapto mix and 0.83% for mercaptobenzothiazole.”

Literature search covered the period from 2000 to 2026

“The search covered the period from 2000 to 2026 and was restricted to articles published in English.”

Occupational contact dermatitis accounts for 90–95% of occupational dermatoses and is predominantly irritant in nature

“Occupational contact dermatitis (OCD) is the most common work-related skin disease, accounting for roughly 90–95% of occupational dermatoses and falling predominantly on the hands.”

The pooled one-year prevalence of self-reported hand eczema among healthcare workers reached 27.4% during the pandemic

“A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis reported a pooled one-year prevalence of self-reported hand eczema of 27.4% (95% CI 19.3–36.5) among healthcare workers.”

Increased risk of hand eczema is principally associated with frequent handwashing and wet work rather than alcohol-based hand rub

“Importantly, meta-analytic data associate the increased risk principally with repeated washing and wet work rather than with alcohol-based hand rub.”

The review is non-systematic, does not follow PRISMA methodology, and relies on purposive selection of literature without formal risk-of-bias assessment

“Because this is a narrative rather than a systematic review, these records were not screened sequentially against predefined eligibility criteria, and no dual-independent screening, formal deduplication cascade or risk-of-bias assessment was undertaken.”