Investigation of 18 patients with atopic eczema and 22 normal controls showed that women in both groups had significantly more sweat pore openings on their fingertips than men and that there were more glands per unit area on fingers 3 and 4 compared with the thumb and the first and second fingers. There was no significant difference in the number of sweat pores between normal and atopic individuals, although fingertip topography in the latter was disturbed.