Sunscreen allergies burn patients

With summer in full swing, a common staple of every family’s beach bag is sunscreen. As long as you have that, you’ll be protected from the sun’s harmful rays, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. If you have a sunscreen allergy, slapping the white, gooey cream on your bare skin might just cause you more harm than good.

“Just the smell of sunscreen makes me feel queasy,” says 34-year-old Suzanne Freeman, a Brooklyn Heights mother of a 2 year old. “About five years ago, I became itchy while out in the sun, so I rubbed some sunscreen on me, and then broke out in a horrendous rash, which felt more like an itchy burn, on my face and arms.

My cheeks and chin were bright, shiny red and they felt like they were on fire but also stung by a hundred bees at the same time. My eyes even swelled up.” At the doctor, Suzanne was given a cortisone shot, an anti-itch cream, and was told it was an allergy.

Dr. Clifford Bassett, assistant clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, says that the allergic response to sunscreens is on the rise.

“We are seeing more sunscreen reactions as consumers are more concerned about sun damage and skin cancer. Thus more sunscreen products are available with a wider variety of SPFs than ever before.”

The most common symptoms are skin rash, swelling, hives, and blistering. The rash can take a day or so to develop. Chelsea resident Elizabeth Norton says her rash doesn’t come on until the nighttime, if she comes into contact with sunscreen in the day.

“But once it does, I know I will have a week of torture. It’s the only way I can describe it. My skin becomes intensely red and itchy, and then blisters and gets hard, essentially dying off and peeling. I have to tell all family members not to touch or especially kiss me. Sometimes people will forget that they applied sunscreen in the morning and kiss me ‘hello,’ and the entire cheek that they kissed will be affected for up to two weeks.”

The first step is identifying exactly what is causing the rash, which has to be done with a doctor who has experience in treating sunscreen allergies. The majority of people are allergic to a specific ingredient in the sunscreen, which varies from patient to patient. Some people become mildly itchy just from the sun itself and others get a rash when the sun mixes with the chemical in the sunscreen. Less commonly, a facial rash can be associated with an underlying autoimmune disease.

Dr. Jennifer Stein, assistant professor at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU, advises patients to do a spot check, “to test if your sunscreen is causing an allergy, apply a small amount to the inside of your arm and watch for a reaction.”

While there are certain sunscreens that people with sunscreen allergies can use without side effects, it is a slow process of eliminating various chemical compounds to identify which ones react with your skin. The most effective prevention may, in fact, be common sense: wear a hat to protect your face, long sleeves and pants in the direct sun, and avoid the sun during peak times.

Danielle Sullivan, a mom of three, has worked as a writer and editor in the parenting world for more than 10 years. Sullivan also writes about pets and parenting for Disney’s Babble.com. Find Sullivan on her blogs, Just Write Mom and Some Puppy To Love.

Relevant Directory Listings

See More

Family Speech Center

<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b076e719-7fff-a614-1e03-7070c8fdb6f7"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Family Speech Center has been servicing children, adolescents, and adults since 2003. Our Speech-Language Pathologists are trained professionals who evaluate and diagnose adults and children to identify specific speech, language and swallowing difficulties.<br />Once the communication difficulties are assessed and identified, our Speech-Language Pathologists develop and implement a therapy plan individualized to meet a client’s needs.<br />Our staff has experience with many types of communication disorders and difficulties, including language delay and weak vocabulary skills, articulation/phonological disorders, myofunctional disorders, apraxia, language learning disabilities, auditory/language processing difficulties, fluency disorders, and pragmatic/social disorders.</p>

Long Island Speech

<p>At Long Island Speech, we recognize the value of every person and are guided by our commitment to excellence. We believe that everyone has the right to better communication in order to improve their quality of life. Our mission is to provide exemplary speech/language and feeding services for each of our patients by our highly qualified clinicians, making a positive difference in the lives of our patients so that they may achieve their highest potential. Through the commitment of our staff, we can maintain a quality of presence and tradition of caring; which are hallmarks for Long Island Speech. Our vision is to be the absolute best speech therapy service provider throughout both Nassau and Suffolk counties. We aspire to be the provider of choice in our industry. We have 9 affiliated offices across Long Island, all participating with most major health insurance companies. We also offer evening and weekend hours. Call 844-5-SPEECH to schedule your first appointment.</p>

The Ideal School

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; color: #000000;" data-sheets-value="{" data-sheets-userformat="{">The only independent inclusion school in NYC. We enroll students from Kindergarten to Eleventh Grade in an environment of diverse abilities that inspires excellence, collaboration and growth</span></p>