Contact Dermatitis from Xylene Vapors?
Hey everyone, I'm a new HTL and while I was in school development a really painful and long lasting case of contact dermatitis towards the end of my clinical training. I never knew what it was from since I'm very careful about washing my hands, wearing gloves, and not touching my face. Now I am working PRN one day a week in a lab with MUCH better ventilation, but I am starting to feel itchy even after returning home, showering immediately and hours later Im still itchy. I know my allergy isn't to formalin as I frequently encounter it at my other job, but I rarely deal with xylene so I think I'm allergic to xylene fumes. Is this possible? Dr. Google says yes, but I want to know if anyone else has experienced this in the histology field. If you have, what did you do since it's a necessary chemical in the lab?