Hi John,

It's definitely the gloves, I first had exactly the same symptoms while working as a pastry cook and had to wear gloves all the time, then again in my job in a lab. I think living in a warm country (Australia) didn't help much, as sweat would collect inside the gloves and this was also a part of the problem.

Wearing light cotton inner gloves does work, but not if your hands perspire, as the sweat sort of "conducts" the latex and powder onto your skin and only makes your exposure worse. If you find your hands are dry when in the gloves, then cotton gloves could be a solution. Just make sure you wash them frequently. Put them in the wash after each use (it would be handy to have a few pairs of the cotton gloves and 'rotate' them, so you allways have a fresh pair)

I didn't have much luck switching to vinyl gloves, but I noticed the other day that the "Ansell" company produce gloves made from Nitrile that are supposed to be non-allergenic. You'll find them in the rubber glove dept of your local supermarket (they are for doing the dishes).

I am also sensitive to epoxy, with me it manifests as a severe case of psoriasis, although in others it can also be eye inflamation, respiratory distress, or a number of other symptoms. All much more severe than our hand problem, believe me, if you had that you'd know!

In the mean time, try to keep your hands dry as excesive washing doesn't help. Try to find a "Pure" soap as most soap these days has perfumes etc that will iritate your inflamed skin (ask your pharmacist). The cortisone creams are good but the cortisone ointment is better because it stays on longer, these creams and ointments lose their effectivness if you use them every day so it's a good idea to use them only every second day and use a sorbaline cream or something similar on the other days so as not to let your hands dry out and crack. No, I'm not a doctor, these are just the things my dermitologist recomended that worked for me.

Hope this helps,

Paul