Same Allergies, Different Symptoms

There were two patients who saw me on the same day with latex or rubber allergy who presented with different manifestation on their legs and feet.

One with his lower limbs with red, angry looking, wet lesions with skin infections.

The other with dry, thickened and scaly lesions.

The lesson:

Our bodily reactions manifest differently from persons to persons when exposed to the same allergic substance. I have observed this time and time again.

My learning continues.

Rubber Allergy

Many years ago, one of my dance instructors showed me her feet - it was scaly around her toes and sole.

"Aha", my first thought was a fungal infection, but tests showed it was not. Muscle testing revealed that she was sensitive to rubber products, particularly her socks. She was wearing '100% cotton' socks but since it was stretchable, I was sure it had rubber components in it. She cleverly went to hunt for a pair of socks that did not have rubber but was made of cotton spandex and simply enough, her allergy was cured.

The big problem of rubber allergy is when the rash is at your undergarment areas such as your bra region. Boxer shorts help but even that some still gets the rash and i have advised for these to go back to the 'good-old-days' undies that my dad used i.e. those which you need to tie with strings and these are specially sown. Not especially cool or fashionable, but it will help tremendously in the long run.

Lesson: The simple key to contact-based allergy is avoidance.

My learning continues...