Skin problems in workers using visual display terminals. A study of 201 patients.

Abstract

201 patients with skin problems caused in their own opinion by working with visual display terminals (VDTs) were referred and examined. 18% claimed that their condition improved overnight and 21% that it did so over the weekend. In 25 patients, the skin problems occurred mainly on the cheek turned towards the VDT. Half the patients had rosacea, but their subjective skin symptoms were generally more severe than those in ordinary cases of rosacea, i.e., severe pain, itching and burning. The rest of the patients mainly had common facial dermatoses such as seborrhoeic eczema, acne vulgaris and atopic dermatitis. The patients' skin types, judged by their response to ultraviolet light, did not differ from those of a control population. 18% had non-specific skin problems, e.g., itching and redness. This latter group of patients most closely resembles those cases previously described amongst VDT-workers. An attempt to correlate skin problems with VDTs' electrostatic field strength was unsuccessful because of difficulties in eliminating it. Of 52 electrostatic shields placed in front of patients' VDTs, 38 were defective and 9 were wrongly earthed. The prevalence of migraine-like headache was 40%, which is much higher than in a control population. There was no great use of cosmetics by the study population. When followed up after an average of 8 months, 2/3 of the patients had fewer skin complaints. The question of whether the prevalence of skin problems in general is higher amongst individuals using VDTs than in a control population is addressed in a current study.