DERMATITIS WITH AN UNUSUAL EXPLANATION IN A WELDER

Occupational diseases among welders include asthma, acute keratoconjun ctivitis, and various skin disorders. A localized cutaneous erythema f rom UVC radiation is common and does not generally constitute any prob lem, as its cause is obvious to the welder, the symptoms are slight, a nd it is transient, In this report a welder with WC-induced erythema o n the cheeks is described. Initially, neither the worker, the physicia n at the factory, nor ourselves suspected a UVC erythema. Extensive in vestigations, including factory visits with measurements of UVA, UVB, and UVC irradiance during welding, revealed the cause of the dermatiti s to be UVC, most likely reflected from a textile hood used to prevent exposure to dirt.