Contact dermatitis and sensitization in professional musicians

Abstract

Background: Professional musicians have prolonged and intense physical contact with their instruments. This can lead to occupational skin diseases, particularly irritant and allergic contact dermatitis.

Objectives: To assess the skin diseases and sensitization patterns common among professional musicians.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of the data of the Information Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK) was performed, including data from 1997 to 2017.

Results: We identified 236 professional musicians. In this group, male sex (58.6%) and younger age (60.6% aged < 40 years) were common. The musicians suffered more frequently from facial dermatitis (23.7% vs 15.7%) and less often from leg dermatitis (5.1% vs 10.7%) than the control group (the non-musicians in the IVDK database). The most frequent diagnoses were allergic contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, and irritant contact dermatitis. The sensitization profile of the professional musicians was similar to that of the control group. In 8.9% of cases, an occupational background of skin disease was confirmed.

Conclusions: Severe occupational skin diseases among professional musicians are not as common as in classic "skin-damaging" professions. However, as these skin conditions can mostly be controlled with simple preventive measures, we recommend that this group should be patch tested and treated by a specialist.

Keywords: contact dermatitis; contact sensitization; musical instrument; musicians; occupational skin diseases.