title: Skin problems related to the occupation of commercial fishing in North Carolina.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous professions with many of the occupational health problems related to the skin. This study elucidates the types of occupational skin disorders that occur in commercial fishermen in North Carolina. STUDY DESIGN/SETTINGS: Booths were set up offering free skin cancer screenings at various seafood festivals, a "blessing of the fleet" event and commercial fishing shows, which were located throughout eastern North Carolina from 2002-2004. When commercial fishermen were screened, they were asked about significant skin problems that they had experienced and were related to their occupation. They were specifically asked about their history of (1) cancerous and precancerous skin lesions, (2) eczemas, (3) superficial fungal infections, (4) bacterial infections of the skin, (5) traumatic injuries related to the skin, (6) bites and stings, (7) shocks from fish, and (8) skin problems related to environmental extremes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-one North Carolina watermen were screened: seven of the fishermen (9%) had at least one basal cell carcinoma, five (6%) had at least one squamous cell carcinoma, and no melanomas were detected. Many occupationally related skin disorders were noted on the historical survey, and some of the more dangerous of these included traumatic injuries related to fishing equipment, cutaneous cancers, fish bites, infections, stingray injuries, and man-of-war stings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The sample population was comprised of volunteers, which limits generalizability, and some diagnoses were established retrospectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are a wide variety of skin disorders among commercial fishermen in North Carolina and healthcare professionals should be aware of these when working with watermen.
authors.affiliation: Division of Dermatology, Department of Internal Medicine-Dermatology, Brody Medical Science, Greenville, NC 27858, USA. burkew@ecu.edu
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Eric R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Howell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D009790:Occupations; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*