Changes in water vapor loss from the skin of metal industry workers monitored during exposure to oils. by Coenraads PJ, Lee J, Pinnagoda J This article in PubMed: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2947320 Environ Health 12 (1986) [494][495][496][497][498] Changes in water vapor loss from the skin of metal industry workers monitored during exposure to oils by Pieter-Jan Coenraads MD, MPH, James Lee, MSe, PhD, Jaliya Pinnagoda, SSe 1 COENRAADS P-J, LEE J, PINNAGODA 1. Changes in water vapor loss from the skin of metal industry workers monitored during exposure to oils. Scand J Work Environ Health 12 (1986) 494-498. Vapor loss (VL) from nonsweating skin (SVL), a surrogate measure for transepidermal water passage, was ascertainedelectronically from 54 newlyrecruited metal workers. A weekly measurementwas taken for 12 weeks from each worker in the three groups studied: 17 unexposed workers, 13 workers exposed to water-soluble oilsand 24workersexposed to straightmineraloil. Duringthe 12-week periodfour workers in the group exposedto mineral oil developed contact dermatitis, with a markedlyincreasedSVL.Among the 50 workers whose skin remained normal, the mean initial SVL was 6.8 g . m-2 • h-1 for the back of the hand, 4.4 for the extensor, and 4.7 for the volar forearm. There was a slight but nonsignificantincrease in all three SVL levels in the group exposed to water-soluble oils as compared to the unexposed group. In the group exposedto mineral oils the SVL of the extensor and volar forearm rose to a significantly higher level as compared to those of the unexposed group. This difference persisted after statistical adjustment for age, sex, ethnic group, and initial SVLlevel. These findings indicate that SVL measurement has potential as a monitoring parameter for workersat risk of occupational contact dermatitis.