Hair Dye and Allergy to Beauty Products

As a result of the ladies fashion of having their hair dyed, my number of patients for hair dye allergy has grown exponentially; I probably have a few hundreds of such patients.

The reason of hair dye allergy is basically due to the chemicals to make the hair dye. There are very few cases of such allergy when using henna hair dyes but which young lady (or man) wants to use henna dyes these days?

As a result, I literally have hundreds of antidotes each for a particular patient. Don't forget that hair dyes remains on your head for a period of months. However, most hair dye allergy do not manifeast immediately. Indeed, most of them start to cause itchy rash around the face and neck only a few months later.

Cosmetics (Beauty products) are also a major problem causing rash around the face and it may not be itchy but present as acne-like lesions. Look at your cosmetic bottle and see how many chemicals are shown as ingredients (and note that the company does not need to show all the ingredients!). I find the major problem of cosmetic allrgy arises when one changes ones cosmetic to another type, typically someone one who want to upgrade to more expensive ones.

One example is a patient, as a ressult of her husband doing very well, decided to change to a very expensive brand. Unfortunately she became sensitive to these and have to give up and I advised her to go back to her old range.

Lesson: DONT CHANGE YOUR COSMETICS AND HAIR OR SKIN PRODUCTS IF THEY ARE SERVING YOU WELL

My learning continues...

Yeast Allergy in Foods

I've a substantial number of patients with yeast allergy.

The obvious question would be what to avoid. The basic thing would be to avoid most kind of bread or products containing bread like croutons and fried food with bread crumbs. Any alcohol drink will have yeast as its ingredients and must be avoided. Less common known products that contains small amount of yeast include instant noodles, pau (chinese steamed buns) and other buns, over-ripe grapes and raisins and for those who are very sensitive to yeast, yogurt products and even vinegar. Soya sauces can also cause reactions.

With my patients I tell them to bring the products for muscle testing to see if they can consume them or not.

In most cultures, we have got so accustomed to eating bread and drinking some alcohol that abstaining from these become not such an easy task.

Lesson: AVOIDANCE OF YEAST IN FOOD REQUIRES DETERMINATION AND PLANNING

and my learning continues...

Egg Allergy and Avoidance

Lets say you (or your child) has been diagnosed with egg allergy and you have been told to totally avoid eggs, as ingestion of eggs will cause your allergy to worsen.

It is very easy to say, "avoid eggs at all cost" but in practice, it takes a lot of effort to do so.

Lets examine what type of food has eggs:

• All fried food that contains batters (flour with eggs added) e.g. goreng pisang (banana fritters)
• Most pastries and bread contains eggs
• Most types of biscuits in its content or they are glazed with eggs
• Mee noodles (egg noodles - the yellow ones) especially those instant ones
• Ice cream, chocolates, cakes and the list goes on and on

I am still learning from my patients which foods contain eggs and which do not. Reading labels on the food packet usually does not help (as there is no law on strict labelling in Malaysia, but your country may have it) and as such imported food need not state all the ingredients. So if you are unsure whether a particular food has egg or not, avoid it!

Lession: FOOD AVOIDANCE IS NO EASY TASK BUT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY

and 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...

Multiple Allergies and Growing Up

This young man first saw me at the age of 12 with very severe eczema and he was feeling terrible and really, who can blame him?

He was first diagnosed to have house dust mite, egg and milk allery and later with the help of his mum and himself, we gradually realised that he also had chrome, nickel, alcohol, detergent and mint allergy. That's quite a number.

His condition improved with time but he was not happy as he was the smallest boy in class and by 15 had not attained puberty. I assured him that with the elimination of his allergies, he would grow. Of course, being the awkward age of 15, I wasn't sure if he believed me.

Imagine my pride that he is now grown and training for a triathron! In fact when I met him at the park where I have my weekly walks, he challenged me for a race (with handicap of course... I'm past my prime) with the bet that if he won, further medical fees would be waived. Clever boy.

Because he was getting better in the course of his treatment, he also mentioned that he wanted me to stay alive as long as he lives so that he would always be well. What a compliment, I thought.

Allergies May Have Multiple Causes. Doctor and Patient Detective Collaboration Helps.

My learning continues.

Food & Acne

Having those pesky pimples in your teens is such a nuisance.

Apart from mediacation for the treatment, there are those who develop acne as a the result of using the wrong facial products or taking drugs which predisposes to pimples. There are also those whose acne are actually are caused by sensitivity to certain foods. In all the cases I test them for any food that can aggravate or cause them. Generally, the food to avoid are:

• fried food
• nuts
• chilis
• chocolates
• caffeinated drinks

Also remember to cleanse your face which tends to be greasy as often as your can especially after when you sweat.

Certain Foods Are Best Avoided When You Have Acne

...and my learning continues

General Allergy Advice

I need to stress this particular point that allergy begets allergy and this is the 'Allergic March', meaning that the allergy can become worse, other allergies may appear or you may become allergic to new substances.

I recently consulted a young 3-year-old girl who was having yeast allergy and did fantastically well with treatment. However, the allergy returned when her mum gave her some sour plum to eat.

SOUR PLUM??

For a 3-year-old??

Oh well.

My general advice for allergy would be:

• to avoid at all cost the food you or your child is allergic to
• not to introduce any other foodstuff which does not add any value to the child or your health such as junk food, flavored drinks and food and processed foods (these have preservatives, coloring and binding substances that should be avoided)
• to consume good fresh food, fruits and vegetables
• to avoid using complex soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and supplements (they are not unnecessary unless detected that they are short of them - to be discussed later)

For Allergic Persons, Simple Is Good

… and my learning continues.