An at-home hand dermatitis treatment with oral medication and use of a portable tanning unit appears to be as effective as a hospital-based treatment in reducing the symptoms of hand dermatitis, according to an article in the December issue of The Archives of Dermatology.
According to background information in the article, hand eczema, also called hand dermatitis, refers to the inflammation of the skin on the hands. This often chronic condition affects 10 percent of adults in the general population within one year, and includes scaling, redness, and blistering of the skin. One treatment option for hand dermatitis is psoralen–UV-A (PUVA). PUVA involves the administration of psoralen—either orally (as a pill) or locally (as a hand-bath soak, or applied as a gel or cream)—and subsequent exposure to UV-A light from tanning units.