How do I figure out a sudden new skin allergy?
August 12, 2015 2:01 AM Subscribe
Mysterious rash which has been appearing on my arms and hands for the last two weeks. You are not my doctor. You are also not my allergist. But it will be a number of weeks with many referrals before I get to an allergist. In the meantime, I am vain enough that I don't enjoy having people stare at me like I'm going to infect them with cooties on the MTR, so I'm trying to figure out myself what to eliminate.
Rashes appear in small clusters which look like tiny blisters. They are mildly itchy when they first appear, but they don't itch after that. If I scratch them, they break and make sores-- otherwise they dry up in a few days-- unsightly but not really a problem. Every day, a small new cluster appears somewhere on a forearm or wrist. I was immediately paranoid and suspected bedbugs or scabies, but my GP has said the rash doesn't look like either one of those (not a 100% guarantee, but he said he was fairly confident). He said it looked like a medicine allergy or a contact irritation from an environmental allergy. I have an appointment with a dermatologist in two week, and have been prescribed Uniflex in the meantime.
I don't have any idea what's new in my environment. No new washing liquid, no new medicine, no new sheets, no new pets. I do take a Reishi supplement in tea form which lists a possible rash as a side effect, but I've been taking this for months before the rash appeared. I have been cooking from home more often, but I hope I'm not allergic to my own cooking.
Has anyone else had a similarly sudden rash caused by an allergy? How did you identify it? Any tips on what environmental factors to look for? I am very pale, and it is very visible. I don't want to mummify myself in long sleeves forever.
Rashes appear in small clusters which look like tiny blisters. They are mildly itchy when they first appear, but they don't itch after that. If I scratch them, they break and make sores-- otherwise they dry up in a few days-- unsightly but not really a problem. Every day, a small new cluster appears somewhere on a forearm or wrist. I was immediately paranoid and suspected bedbugs or scabies, but my GP has said the rash doesn't look like either one of those (not a 100% guarantee, but he said he was fairly confident). He said it looked like a medicine allergy or a contact irritation from an environmental allergy. I have an appointment with a dermatologist in two week, and have been prescribed Uniflex in the meantime.
I don't have any idea what's new in my environment. No new washing liquid, no new medicine, no new sheets, no new pets. I do take a Reishi supplement in tea form which lists a possible rash as a side effect, but I've been taking this for months before the rash appeared. I have been cooking from home more often, but I hope I'm not allergic to my own cooking.
Has anyone else had a similarly sudden rash caused by an allergy? How did you identify it? Any tips on what environmental factors to look for? I am very pale, and it is very visible. I don't want to mummify myself in long sleeves forever.
Small clusters of tiny, itchy blisters sounds a bit like dyshidrotic eczema, though I don't know if that can occur on the forearm or wrist. I first started experiencing it in my mid-20s, so it is possible for it to appear suddenly. For now, I would stop taking the Reishi supplement; it could be that it didn't cause a reaction before, but now it does.
posted by neushoorn at 2:48 AM on August 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by neushoorn at 2:48 AM on August 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I get eczema on my hands occasionally that looks just like that - pinhead sized itchy little blisters. It's treated with steroid cream.
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:12 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:12 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
I also think it's dyshidrotic eczema. I get it myself and I'm currently undergoing huge outbreaks on the backs of both of my hands. I've only ever received steroid creams for it from the dermatologist.
posted by crankylex at 4:23 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by crankylex at 4:23 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is it cropping up in the same general areas every time? My first thought was maybe shingles?
posted by kuanes at 4:42 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kuanes at 4:42 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Don't discount auto immune. My wife had something similar and it turned out to be pemphigus vulgaris.
posted by pyro979 at 4:59 AM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by pyro979 at 4:59 AM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
I started getting a rash-type thing that fits your description a few years ago; it happens when I've been washing dishes while wearing rubber gloves in hot temperatures and was confirmed as some kind of latex + heat contact response only when I ended up wearing an orc mask (don't ask) on a hot day and my face swelled up. Obviously this isn't a testing mechanism I would recommend, but if it's possible yours is a reaction to gloves, wearing cotton gloves under the rubber gloves has solved the problem for me and might be worth a try. Good luck.
posted by Otto the Magnificent at 4:59 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Otto the Magnificent at 4:59 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I got the same rash while working in a restaurant a long time ago, it took me two years to figure out that I had developed an allergy to antibacterial soaps. If I only use regular soaps, I'm pretty much blister-free. As a note: the blisters can take some time to heal, so if you start eliminating possible environmental causes you may not see immediate results.
posted by jet_pack_in_a_can at 5:40 AM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jet_pack_in_a_can at 5:40 AM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Have you recently started using a new bottle of washing liquid or a new bar/bottle of shower soap? Sometimes manufacturers will change an inactive ingredient (fragrance or color, f'rex), and it doesn't get a big *new* on the container, but can still cause problems for consumers.
posted by jlkr at 7:01 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jlkr at 7:01 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Huh. Thanks everyone. I have zero history with eczema, and as a Lady of a Certain Age, I don't really expect it to pop up suddenly now.
I'm pretty sure it's not shingles-- I've seen that up close in a former partner and it didn't act like this at all. The pictures of dyshidrotic eczema really look like what I'm experiencing, but Dr. Google says that when dyshidrosis appears on places which aren't your hands, then it generally isn't dyshidrosis at all, but instead some kind of contact dermatitis.
Jlkr, thanks for your thoughts. I realised that I had changed scents in my shower gel and body scrub two weeks ago, so I have binned both of those. Otto the Magnificent, gloves aren't an issue, but heat is. It's summer here, but I'm still running/hiking outside multiple days a week. The heat itself is a change.
For those of you with dyshydrosis, have you ever had the blisters located on your forearms rather than on your hands? I've had one lone blister on on my finger, but otherwise it's mostly on my forearms.
posted by frumiousb at 8:02 AM on August 12, 2015
I'm pretty sure it's not shingles-- I've seen that up close in a former partner and it didn't act like this at all. The pictures of dyshidrotic eczema really look like what I'm experiencing, but Dr. Google says that when dyshidrosis appears on places which aren't your hands, then it generally isn't dyshidrosis at all, but instead some kind of contact dermatitis.
Jlkr, thanks for your thoughts. I realised that I had changed scents in my shower gel and body scrub two weeks ago, so I have binned both of those. Otto the Magnificent, gloves aren't an issue, but heat is. It's summer here, but I'm still running/hiking outside multiple days a week. The heat itself is a change.
For those of you with dyshydrosis, have you ever had the blisters located on your forearms rather than on your hands? I've had one lone blister on on my finger, but otherwise it's mostly on my forearms.
posted by frumiousb at 8:02 AM on August 12, 2015
Best answer: I had this issue; it was Aveda's Rosemary and Mint lotion (like you, I could not figure out what the heck was going on because nothing else had changed) which I had used before... but I had just bought a fresh new bottle. Ironically I applied it over and over again to ease the itching before I realized what had happened.
So it doesn't necessarily have to be a new product - it could be a new bottle of a familiar product with a sneakily-changed formulation. I'm still pissed at Aveda.
My GP handed me over a script for allergy meds and told me to use an OTC allergy cream, but because I waited a week or two to see him, he said it would take about that long to heal (and it did).
posted by Nyx at 8:21 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
So it doesn't necessarily have to be a new product - it could be a new bottle of a familiar product with a sneakily-changed formulation. I'm still pissed at Aveda.
My GP handed me over a script for allergy meds and told me to use an OTC allergy cream, but because I waited a week or two to see him, he said it would take about that long to heal (and it did).
posted by Nyx at 8:21 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm still running/hiking outside multiple days a week.
Are you running/hiking in the same locations? Is it possible that you're brushing up against some kind of plant leaf or thorn that is irritating your skin? As it's summer and plants, you know, grow in the summer it's possible you might be experiencing some kind of reaction to new thorns/flowers/underside of leaves that appears around this time of year or that has grown into a path you regularly run but due to it gradually doing so you haven't really noticed it yet. Maybe it's also possible that you experienced a slight reaction before but the heat is making it worse (additionally if you are wearing long sleeves to cover up your rash).
(I'm allergic to something on rose bushes, but mostly in July and August; the severity of the reaction seems related to heat. It's a weird thing.)
posted by barchan at 8:22 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Are you running/hiking in the same locations? Is it possible that you're brushing up against some kind of plant leaf or thorn that is irritating your skin? As it's summer and plants, you know, grow in the summer it's possible you might be experiencing some kind of reaction to new thorns/flowers/underside of leaves that appears around this time of year or that has grown into a path you regularly run but due to it gradually doing so you haven't really noticed it yet. Maybe it's also possible that you experienced a slight reaction before but the heat is making it worse (additionally if you are wearing long sleeves to cover up your rash).
(I'm allergic to something on rose bushes, but mostly in July and August; the severity of the reaction seems related to heat. It's a weird thing.)
posted by barchan at 8:22 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
as a Lady of a Certain Age, I don't really expect it to pop up suddenly now.
I suddenly developed dyshidrotic eczema -- with NO previous eczema history -- at the age of 38. It truly can happen, and what you're describing sounds just like it.
posted by KathrynT at 9:21 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
I suddenly developed dyshidrotic eczema -- with NO previous eczema history -- at the age of 38. It truly can happen, and what you're describing sounds just like it.
posted by KathrynT at 9:21 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sunscreen?
posted by bq at 11:30 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by bq at 11:30 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
I get heat hives (cholinergic urticaria) and it sounds like it could be a mild outbreak of that. I developed them at age 20 without it ever showing up before and now I get them pretty regularly when the weather gets warm. The good news is the treatment is just antihistimines for most outbreaks.
posted by capricorn at 1:18 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by capricorn at 1:18 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
I struggled with this for almost 15 years. Steroid creams help temporarily, but you need to figure out what is actually causing it. For me, relief only came when I had a food sensitivity test done (here in Canada you can get it done by a naturopath). Turns out it's gluten and tomatoes. If I stay away from those, no rashes. If I eat them, rash extravaganza. Hope that helps.
posted by figaro at 5:36 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by figaro at 5:36 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: KathrynT-- is yours only on your hands? Everything I read says it should primarily be on your hands and feet, but mine is mostly on my arms.
barchan-- when it first appeared, I assumed it was because I brushed against a plant which caused a reaction, but I don't hike in the same places. But maybe pollen?
I'm seriously leaning towards seeing some kind of systemic reaction to heat or food which is the trigger to reacting to multiple triggers. My whole skin seems really reactive. Yesterday I wore a skirt with a gathered band, it wasn't uncomfortable. Today I have bright red line across my torso where the band was-- as though it had been digging in viciously.
posted by frumiousb at 5:56 PM on August 12, 2015
barchan-- when it first appeared, I assumed it was because I brushed against a plant which caused a reaction, but I don't hike in the same places. But maybe pollen?
I'm seriously leaning towards seeing some kind of systemic reaction to heat or food which is the trigger to reacting to multiple triggers. My whole skin seems really reactive. Yesterday I wore a skirt with a gathered band, it wasn't uncomfortable. Today I have bright red line across my torso where the band was-- as though it had been digging in viciously.
posted by frumiousb at 5:56 PM on August 12, 2015
KathrynT-- is yours only on your hands? Everything I read says it should primarily be on your hands and feet, but mine is mostly on my arms.
Mine is mostly on my hands and feet, but sometimes spreads up to my wrists.
posted by KathrynT at 6:23 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mine is mostly on my hands and feet, but sometimes spreads up to my wrists.
posted by KathrynT at 6:23 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
The backs of my hands and the tops of my fingers are covered in varying stages of DE. Some are fresh blisters, some are older blister groups, and some of it is scabbed over and/or cracking skin. It goes up to about where a watch would go if I wore one. Nothing up my forearms, but I do have eczema on the back of my neck that is very similar to the DE on my hands. Like KathrynT, mine showed up when I was in my late 30s although I do have a history with eczema mainly on my scalp. It's itchy and it hurts and as a bonus it's hideous.
posted by crankylex at 7:51 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by crankylex at 7:51 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yesterday I wore a skirt with a gathered band, it wasn't uncomfortable. Today I have bright red line across my torso where the band was-- as though it had been digging in viciously.
Yup, in this case I will double down on my amateur internet diagnosis of heat hives. This always happens to me.
posted by capricorn at 8:32 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yup, in this case I will double down on my amateur internet diagnosis of heat hives. This always happens to me.
posted by capricorn at 8:32 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Mine is mostly around my elbows, and includes my upper arms. It sounds very much as you describe, but in a different place.
capricorn, in the heat hives do they also look like little blisters? Heat is certainly a very real thing. I've been hiking 5+ hours each weekend day in over 90 degree heat-- last weekend it was 98 degrees.
posted by frumiousb at 8:42 PM on August 12, 2015
capricorn, in the heat hives do they also look like little blisters? Heat is certainly a very real thing. I've been hiking 5+ hours each weekend day in over 90 degree heat-- last weekend it was 98 degrees.
posted by frumiousb at 8:42 PM on August 12, 2015
Best answer: Sometimes allergies can take a while to develop, so I wouldn't discount the reishi as a possible cause. I would try stopping that and using a hypoallergenic soap/laundry detergent. Take cool showers and make sure to dry your skin thoroughly. Keep the area clean, cool and dry as best you can.
Treatment wise, calamine lotion or better yet caladryl can decrease itching/redness. This has the added benefit that you get to the drying up and scabbing stage faster, too.
You could try an oral antihistamine if those ideas don't work, but the following ideas could mess up test results your allergist might want to do for almost a week after you stop taking them, so they'd be a last resort for if I were you. IME (IANAD, just a chronic allergy sufferer) Benadryl works the best, but you'll be out of it if you take it during the daytime. Some people use it as a sleep aid, even. Some people swear by Claritin but it's never worked well for me. Allegra/Zyrtec work about equally well. For hives I've also seen research suggesting acid blockers like Pepcid may help in conjunction with an antihistamine, but that's overkill at this stage unless you had heartburn already.
posted by estelahe at 11:06 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Treatment wise, calamine lotion or better yet caladryl can decrease itching/redness. This has the added benefit that you get to the drying up and scabbing stage faster, too.
You could try an oral antihistamine if those ideas don't work, but the following ideas could mess up test results your allergist might want to do for almost a week after you stop taking them, so they'd be a last resort for if I were you. IME (IANAD, just a chronic allergy sufferer) Benadryl works the best, but you'll be out of it if you take it during the daytime. Some people use it as a sleep aid, even. Some people swear by Claritin but it's never worked well for me. Allegra/Zyrtec work about equally well. For hives I've also seen research suggesting acid blockers like Pepcid may help in conjunction with an antihistamine, but that's overkill at this stage unless you had heartburn already.
posted by estelahe at 11:06 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Rashes appear in small clusters which look like tiny blisters. They are mildly itchy when they first appear, but they don't itch after that. If I scratch them, they break and make sores-- otherwise they dry up in a few days-- unsightly but not really a problem. Every day, a small new cluster appears somewhere on a forearm or wrist.
This really sounds like Lichen Planus, which commonly (but not exclusively) presents on the inner wrist and forearm. Lichen Planus is an autoimmune disease that is usually treated by dermatologists; it's not rare but is often overlooked by GPs and there's not a lot of info out there. Treatment usually involves systemic steroids like Prednisone and other medications. There's no known cause.
If you have questions about other symptoms feel free to MeMail me.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:17 AM on August 13, 2015 [2 favorites]
This really sounds like Lichen Planus, which commonly (but not exclusively) presents on the inner wrist and forearm. Lichen Planus is an autoimmune disease that is usually treated by dermatologists; it's not rare but is often overlooked by GPs and there's not a lot of info out there. Treatment usually involves systemic steroids like Prednisone and other medications. There's no known cause.
If you have questions about other symptoms feel free to MeMail me.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:17 AM on August 13, 2015 [2 favorites]
capricorn, in the heat hives do they also look like little blisters?
Yeah, they can look like that.
posted by capricorn at 5:28 AM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, they can look like that.
posted by capricorn at 5:28 AM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have gotten tiny, itchy blisters on my hands and feet. At first I thought I'd developed dyshidrotic eczema from stress (lots of stressful things were happening). After it happened a second time, then a third, I realized that it was correlated with applying Bath & Body Works' Coconut Lime Verbena lotion. A day or so after applying, the blisters would appear. I have no idea what ingredient caused it, but I now avoid everything from that brand. Even though I used it before without issues, and I don't have a history of being sensitive to fragrances, apparently some ingredient now is causing me trouble. The problem hasn't recurred since I quit using the scented stuff. So in your shoes, I might try switching to unscented soap, lotion, deodorant, etc. -- or even just to a different brand -- and see if that helps at all.
posted by snowmentality at 6:36 PM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by snowmentality at 6:36 PM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks, all, for your answers. I'll let you know what the dermatologist says. I cut out the supplement, tossed all vaguely new girly products, and am trying different creams to reduce the rash. The lichen planus is interesting, since it does look like the milder version of those pictures.
posted by frumiousb at 6:11 PM on August 14, 2015
posted by frumiousb at 6:11 PM on August 14, 2015
Response by poster: So, the dermatologist was really unhelpful. By the time I saw him, the rash had begun to abate on its own. He advised against allergy testing since he said the extreme heat of Hong Kong summer had a tendency to exacerbate very mild allergies which may not even show up on a test. His advice was to wait and see if it came back in a cooler month and if it did, he would test.
I stopped a laundry detergent, a new shower gel and two kinds of herbal supplements-- so the culprit was likely one of those. I don't care enough about any of them to start adding things back in as an experiment, so I guess I will call this case closed.
Thanks for all your answers!
posted by frumiousb at 6:57 PM on August 28, 2015
I stopped a laundry detergent, a new shower gel and two kinds of herbal supplements-- so the culprit was likely one of those. I don't care enough about any of them to start adding things back in as an experiment, so I guess I will call this case closed.
Thanks for all your answers!
posted by frumiousb at 6:57 PM on August 28, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
One possibility is that you have developed contact dermatitis from something you have previously been using, or the combination of things you have previously been using. Your body and skin changes over time, and some irritations take a while before the body reacts.
It could also be something like dust mites.
TL;DR Don't exclude something just because you have previously been ok with it.
Best of luck!
posted by troytroy at 2:43 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]