I Still Don't Know What This Is

Not long after being diagnosed with Perioral Dermatitis, I started to develop other skin related issues. I started to get really swollen eyes. I'm not sure exactly when it began but, I am pretty sure I just woke up one morning and it was there. As soon as I opened my eyes in the morning, I could tell if they were swollen or not. I could feel it and sometimes my eyes couldn't open all the way.

Some days it would be one eye, other days it would be both, or my eyes wouldn't be swollen at all. It was really random, and every night when I went to bed I always thought, "Well I wonder what's going to happen when I wake up!" Along with the swelling, they started to become red and irritated. 

When I woke up the morning of the above photo, I pretty much had enough. I was applying cold compresses, trying to sleep with my head slightly elevated, applied hydrocortisone cream generously and nothing was working. I went over to my college's health clinic and the Nurse Practitioner prescribed me Elidel. FYI- that sh*t stings! It was harsh but again, I felt like I was running out of options. As I've mentioned in my previous post, I am in nursing school. I had clinicals to attend where I needed and wanted to make a good first impression with every nurse, doctor, manager that I met. That's hard to do when you look like you have some sort of "I didn't get enough sleep/pink eye/ I got in a fist fight/I don't know what the hell it is" thing. If my memory serves correct, I believe I used that for a week or two and it helped calm down the major swelling and redness. 

Along with the swelling and redness of my eyelids, I started to develop this rash under my eyes. It was almost like a raised hive. It itched and burned and was just not cute.

Like the swelling of my eyelids, every day was a different scenario. I continued the regimen of cold compress and hydrocortisone cream. It helped but, it didn't go away completely. I started researching, and talking to other health care professionals, and came to the realization that maybe it was a contact allergy. Back to the dermatologist I went! I ended up doing a patch test. My patch test consisted of 60 (I think) of the most common chemicals that cause a contact allergy. Many of the chemicals or substances can be found in shampoos, conditioners, make-up, soaps, nail polish etc. At this point, I had already changed all my products so I didn't keep my hopes up. 

The allergens are applied to patches which are then applied to your back. They are then numbered and outlined, and secured with hypoallergenic tape (I asked because there's no way I was going through this to realize I was allergic to the damn tape). I went back to the office to have them checked the next day, and then two days after. During this time I had to avoid showering, and getting sweaty so the patches wouldn't fall off. I also had to stop taking antihistamines a week prior to the application of the patches. So, out of the sixty most common chemicals and substances that cause contact dermatitis guess how many I was allergic to? ONE. I honestly wasn't surprised. I didn't save the paper about the chemical but, I went home and checked every single one of my products, and none of them had it as an ingredient.

         

The next step I took to figure out what the hell was going on with my face was going to an allergist. That included more allergy testing but this time it was a skin prick test. This test is done to identify allergies such as dust, mold, pollen, animals, etc. I believe this test consisted of 40 lancet pricks. It didn't hurt but man was it itchy! Once they are all done with the pricks, you have to wait 15 minutes before the doctor can read them. It basically felt like my back was on fire and I wanted to itch it so bad. My awesome best friend went to the appointment with me and I basically made her blow air on my back to relieve the itching. But hey, that's what friends are for! 

When the 15 minutes are up, the reactions are read and measured on a scale of 1-4. I had a reaction to the majority of the allergens. I expected this going in because I already have bad allergies. I'm certainly allergic to cats, dust, mold, pollen and I pretty much sneeze all day every day (Thanks Mom). The skin prick test didn't give me any answers other than my allergist suggesting I should look into a more in depth patch testing. 

So in short, that's my mystery! My eyes still become swollen from time to time and I still get the skin rash occasionally. I have yet to do more allergy testing but, I am definitely looking into it. Especially food allergy testing after learning recently that I am allergic to mangos. Yeah, that wasn't fun.

Questions:

• Has anyone had similar situations or experiences? Please comment and share because I would love to hear them!

• Have you had allergy testing?