Living with

The following advice will help you to decrease the risk of contact dermatitis, the number episodes of atopic dermatitis, and the hazard of developing contact allergies on your hands.

• Avoid washing hand too frequently.
• Avoid prolonged contact with soapy water, bubble baths or fragrances.
• Do not use household cleaning products using your bare hands (use gloves for washing dishes, housework and washing surfaces).
• After washing your hands, dry them with a cloth or absorbent paper towel, without
  rubbing too vigorously.
• Use a moisturizing agent with a lipid-replenishing cream (called an emollient, moisturizer) with little or no fragrance, several times a day (at least 3 times).
• When the weather is cold and damp, wear gloves outdoors to avoid exposure to extreme temperature variations.  

If you have atopic dermatitis or contact dermatitis, you should wash your hands with:

• soap with a neutral pH that lathers only a little and is unscented
• an oily washing bar containing no soap  

and, avoid washing for too long or being too often in contact with soap and water.

• Always wear gloves while you use them.
• Follow the manufacturer’s recommended dilutions; do not use them at too high or strong concentrations.
• Do not mix household product with other products.  

You must avoid causing irritation to the skin.  Therefore you must handle cleaning products with caution, limit the use of those or wear gloves to avoid mechanical or natural irritation:

• when gardening, do-it yourself work.
• in the kitchen : peeling vegetables, preparing poultry, giblets, fish, shellfish, kneading of dough.
• when using household products, follow product dilutions.  

Products containing bleach, ammonia, stain removers, or solvent (gasoline, trichlorethylene, benzene alcohol, turpentine, ether), scouring powder, oven cleaner.

• Avoid using polishes with bare hands.
• Avoid irritating cosmetics: products containing high levels of soap, and/or fragrances, dyes, permanent inks or coloring agents.  

• Wear rubber gloves (if you are not allergic to latex) or vinyl.
• Gloves should have a sufficiently long sleeve so that the product you are trying to avoid doesn’t get inside the glove.
• Use several pairs of gloves and wash them often.
• It may be necessary to wear several pairs of gloves over each other (cotton gloves in contact with the skin, and rubber, vinyl or nitrile gloves over them).  

After each use, you must:

• Wash the gloves,
• Turn them inside out,
• Dry them inside out in a place where the inside of the glove will not be soiled by irritants products.