Name that allergen

February 6, 2007 5:48 AM

Name that allergy / skin condition (not a 'see a doctor' question, promise). What am I actually allergic to?

Medical bit:
So... since I was 'ikkle I've had an allergy to sunlight. Every year, when the first strong sun of summer hits, I come out in an allergic rash. A week later, the rash goes away at roughly the same time that my tan starts picking back up.

As a kid it spread across my face, ears and chest leaving huge hard blisters that peeled layers of skin. Nowadays it's just what looks like nettle rash with a couple of teenage spots on it.

Question bit:
What is it that I'm actually allergic to? The doctor's don't know and don't care, and (to be honest) I'm the answer won't effect the way I treat the sun, but I'd love to know what I'm actually reacting to.

Is it going to be an allergy to the UV light, or to vitamin D, or heat, or what?

As you can imagine, I've seen a doctor but this is not a question that my doctor will be drawn on. I've tried.

I appreciate that this is likely to be speculative but hopefully it won't count as chatfilter or hypertheticalquestionfilter.

posted by twine42 to health & fitness (8 comments total)

My guess: photosensitive psoriasis.
posted by jellicle at 5:57 AM on February 6, 2007

Here's what google told me: photodermatosis.
posted by Osmanthus at 6:28 AM on February 6, 2007

Solar urticaria? Doctors won't be able to help you much with this matter because they don't seem to know much about auto-immune or crytpogenetic disorders. I'm guessing that it has something to do with UV and vitamin D, and that your body is reacting to the reception of it in an odd way - when your body has stored up enough vitamin D, you have reserves of it and your body settles back down. Perhaps going to a tanning bed once a week or twice a week in the winter will help you avoid the awful week at the beginning of summer. Of course, and obviously, I'm not a doctor.
posted by billysumday at 6:49 AM on February 6, 2007

Just FYI, I went to school with a kid who was actually allergic to the sun. She told me she is one of only a handful of people world-wide who actually can claim a medical allergy to the sun. When she goes outside, if any part of her skin is exposed to sunlight she gets hives on that skin, and if she stays out too long/exposes too much skin, she goes into anaphylactic shock. I doubt, since you have the ability to to be exposed to sunlight and tan after a while, that you are at all allergic to the sun, if that is at all comforting.
I'm really really pale and I get sun poisoning whenever I first go out in the sun during the beginning of the summer (or during vacation).
posted by nursegracer at 6:58 AM on February 6, 2007

jellicle - interesting... that could actually tie in with some other weird medical complaints I have...

nursegracer - this is of course true. When I was little we were told 'sun allergy', which is clearly a 'lie to children' but explained the situation quite successfully. My problem has always been getting a doctor to go past that particular lie.
posted by twine42 at 7:43 AM on February 6, 2007

I have this problem, although I have it much less than I used to. The only advice I have for you is that when I went off of birth control pills it improved considerably and now I don't get it much at all. I got it when I was a kid pre-BCP (had to wear a hat, long sleeves) but post-BCP (or maybe because I'm older, or maybe because I spend more time outside year-round) I almost never get it. My doc was similarly unhelpful in that "oh just put this cream on it when you get those bumps" way, but I found that antihistamines would help some, as would avoiding prolonged exposure to hot sun early on in the spring/summer before my skin had acclimated. I still get little bumps on the sides of my fingers if I'm out in the bright sun early on in the year, but most of the rest of my symptoms have gone away.

I also had a sort of half-assed idea that it may have been linked to something I was eating -- more heavily processed food or some additive -- because another thing that has changed is that I moved to the country and eat a lot less of that stuff (which would explain why it was more of a problem when I was on vacation and had less food choices available to me).
posted by jessamyn at 8:17 AM on February 6, 2007

Osmanthus gets a prize for Polymorphic light eruption - not only because it has photos that could well be of me, but because it suggests gin and tonic quinine as a possible treatment. ;)
posted by twine42 at 9:22 AM on February 6, 2007

jellicle: "My guess: photosensitive psoriasis."

It's really rare. Anyway if he/she had psoriasis they'd more than likely have seen plaques in other areas as well, unrelated to sun exposure.

It actually doesn't sound like it anyway -- by "teenage spots" I think pimples, and that's not what psoriasis looks like.
posted by loiseau at 10:07 AM on February 6, 2007