I used to get the most almighty rash type thing on my hands if I touched paper too much - eg if filing old files all day. It was due to the paper drying my hands out too much (sort of). Came in the form of lots of little white raised spots on the palms of my hands which itched like hell and were quite tender. The doc gave me all sorts for it, steroid creams and such, but the only thing that helped was keeping my hands creamed up with aqueous cream (and keeping away from the files, good excuse).