Abstract

Introduction:

Salt pan workers are constantly exposed to concentrated brine, salt crystals and direct sunlight. Studiesdone in India to measure the morbidity pattern in salt pan workers have reported a high prevalence of occupational dermatoses among them.

Objectives:

To measure the prevalenceof dermatological disorders and the pattern salt induced dermatoses affecting the salt pan workers in Marakannam, Tamilnadu.

Methods:

A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 520 saltpan workers. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain details on socio demography, history related to skin disorders and contributing factors such as duration of sun, brine and salt exposures and examination was done. Data was entered in excel and analyzed using SPSS statistics version20.Chi square test was done to measure the association.

Results:

A total of 271(52.1%) workers had a history of any dermatological illness in them. Among the salt induced dermatoses total dystrophy of nail (18.5%), hand ezema (9.8%), irritant dermatitis (5.2%) and xerosis (5.8%) were common. Other salt induced dermatoses observed were ulcers (3.8%), Fissure foot (4%) and Lichen simplex chronicus (4%).

Conclusion:

There is a high burden of skin disorders among the salt pan workers. Salt induced dermatoses were common among them.