Pathology gave me dermatitis!!

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yaah

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I have this slightly itchy and irritated papular rash on the ulnar side of my left wrist. I think it is from a formalin spill. I tried to reach into a bucket to get a colon out and I think I reached too far and the formalin leached over and got my wrist. I believe it to be a contact dermatitis and not an allergy, because I have no other problems with formalin.

Has anyone else experienced this? It's rather interesting. It resembles poison ivy a bit, but is not nearly so itchy. Hence, my belief in it being a contact dermatitis.

Maybe I should post on the dermatology forum about my rash. 🙄
 
well formalin isn't a harmless compound. i've had some reddened skin after getting some formaldehyde on my hand...definitely not pruritic...and it didn't last for long.

you should take a picture of it and post it on the derm forum...i'm sure someone will jump on it like a fat kid on a cupcake.
 
What I should do I punch biopsy it and post the histology. However, that would require me giving myself a punch biopsy which I am not about to do. Especially in a highly vascular area like the side of the wrist. Darwin award candidate there.

Aspiring pathologist dies after biopsying self. Family refuses autopsy.
 
Nah...go for the shave biopsy...that way you get the whole lesion 🙄
 
Not to add to the rampant nerdiness of this thread, by perhaps you could scrape some cells onto a slide with a razor blade?
 
With reckless disregard for the pervasive nerdiness - do consider xeroderma in the differential.

But does it matter when we all know what the treatment is? 😉
 
The self shave biopsy: This reminds me of a kid in my college freshman chem lab who nicked his nitric acid burn...

For some derm "tips"/jokes, check out the specialty one-liner generalizations post on the allopathic forum.
 
Isn't formalin formaldehyde in phosphate buffered saline? Maybe it cross linked some of your skin proteins making them antigenic to your cytotoxic T cells 😉.
 
Mrbojangles said:
Isn't formalin formaldehyde in phosphate buffered saline? Maybe it cross linked some of your skin proteins making them antigenic to your cytotoxic T cells 😉.
Click to expand...

Sometimes zinc is used as well. I am not sure what the exact composition of the VA formalin is.

It is still there today. I think I am going to have to nerd it up and start wearing plastic sleeves as protectors.
 
Man, i've been doing path for the past two months and i think i've developed a worsening back (leaning forward too much) and peripheral neuropathy (esp ulnar) because of my elbows!
At this rate i might need back surgery and B12 for life!
 
Tell me about it. The grossing station at the VA is not adjustable. So either I get a chair and sit, or I bend a lot. And since so many of the specimens are small things, it is easier to stand than have to keep getting up and dodging the chair.

So my back is sore after long grossing days. Tomorrow I have 2 leg amputations. @#$%!
 
That's alright. Try some formalin in the eye. That's right. It hurts... bad.
 
DrBloodmoney said:
That's alright. Try some formalin in the eye. That's right. It hurts... bad.
Click to expand...

Actually, I have had that experience as well, a couple of years ago. I can't completely remember the circumstances around it. My eye did recover, similar to the time I walked into the pine tree branch.
 
I was lifting a specimen out of an autopsy bucket and a small piece of tissue fell back in. Just made a small drop fly back up... and direct hit to the left cornea.

I've been the poster boy for eye protection since then.
 
I had a _dream_ about this thread, garnering me nerdly enough status to post. I was in the grossing room at UCSF trying to re-cap a specimen, and the cap was all screwed up so I got formaldehyde all over my ungloved hands. I ran to the sink, worried that I would get formaldehyde-induced dermatitis. At least I wasn't dreaming about ther terrifying largest melanoma specimen ever that I saw the other day...

Yaah, shouldn't you just rub some formaldehyde into your other wrist to prove/disprove your theory?
 
Well, there is a little bit on the other wrist. I am not entirely sure if it is the formalin or the decal. But it happened to me once before during a grossing heavy rotation, so I am going to connect it to the formalin contact.

It may not be quick and instantaneous contact, it might be more prolonged, several minutes.
 
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