Secondary individual prevention and rehabilitation in female hairdressers suffering from skin diseases

Abstract

The risk of contracting occupational skin diseases is highest in hairdressers. A job-specific secondary prevention programme was created to enable hairdressers to stay on the job despite their skin problems. The effect of this prevention programme on both, the severity of skin disorders and the hairdressers' behaviour regarding skin protection are evaluated in this paper. Between 1997 and 2002 a total of 2437 hairdressers participated in the programme. Complete data for the evaluation are available for 635 hairdressers (26%). This selection is partly due to the fact that the evaluation is restricted to certain regions in Germany. The percentage of hairdressers with severe skin symptoms dropped from 49% at the start of the rehabilitation programme to 11% after completion of the programme. The proportion of hairdressers using gloves and applying skin care doubled. Therefore the rehabilitation programme appears to be successful regarding the ability of hairdressers to cope with skin problems.