Polymorphous Light Eruption

[Gelly123]

I've had PLE for the past 44 years. Every single year around mid to end of April my face, neck and ears start to tingle then become bright red as though I have severe sunburn and itch like the devil. It then progresses to all over body urticaria (even though I don't expose any other areas). It gets better as the summer progresses and tolerance increases.

My regime is factor 50 sunblock on face and neck - always. Regular antihistamines which I up to 20mg twice a day in a flare up (advised to do this by an allergy consultant). I also take Ibuprofen twice a day if it's bad. I put witch hazel gel or similar cooling agent on my face at night to take the heat out.

I've only just learned this is an autoimmune condition which makes a lot of sense since I also have autoimmune underactive thyroid and alopecia areata.

Anyone else battling with this horrible nuisance?

I don't have PLE, but for 3 years now I have had hyper sensitivity to the sun and get a non blanching haemorragic rash after sun exposure which is hot and awful. Its no better through the year, but doesn't seem to be going away. I'm like a poster child for sun protection with hat, full clothing coverage, and spf50 all year.
It is absolutely miserable, so my full sympathy with you.

Piz Buin Allergy suncream is really good for PLE sufferers

CMOTDibbler you poor thing. That must be totally miserable. At least in Winter I get some respite. I listen to people moaning on about the weather whilst thinking its the best time of year for me!

I've tried many different brands of sunblock but none of them seem to work against the strong early Spring sunshine. I've kept notes over the years and 24th April has appeared more than once as to when I have my first major flare up. I try to avoid planning any social activities that might require me to be outside during April and May. The worst part for me is my unexposed areas getting covered in urticaria as well. I've never been able to work out any way to stop this occurring.

As an aside - do you have any problem with the lamp used by dentists? If I'm in the chair for any length of time my face starts to get very red and hot.