painful reaction to face products - anyone else?

[underthebluemoon]

For a year I have been plagued with allergic reactions to products I use on my face. It seems to me each reaction is getting worse and lasting longer. My face goes red, puffy and itchy. Then it goes incredibly dry, tight and scaly. Deep lines appear especially around my eyes, aging me by about 20 years! The last episode lasted bout 12 days.

Obviously I have tried to eliminate triggers but its so hard. 'Simple' moisturiser was the last trigger. Even different products within the same range are bad for me - I can use Eucerin face cream (a dermatological skincare range) but not the night cream from the same range.

The doctor offered to refer me for testing but didn't seem hopeful.

Anyone else the same? Any tips? My face is so painful again today and unslightly. I worry that even prodcuts I think are safe are going to change if the manufacturer changes the ingredients.

It's weird isn't alwayssleeping? It's in so much dry/sensitive skin stuff.

Another vote for Dermalex here. It's very soothing. Without it my face used to look like this

Oil cleansing. No soap, no toner no nothing. Other than oil (I use hazelnut or rice bran oil) massage oil
On, leave a few moments and wipe off with a muslin which has been wrung out with hot water. Rise muslin and wipe again.
And Dermalex. Nothing else.

Anyone who has sensitivities to rose scented products, phenoxyethanol may be the culprit. It has a fresh dewy rosy scent and is very commonly often used as a preservative.

Something in lip products seems to trigger my sensitivity reactions, but it's very hard to find out exactly what it is.

Hi underthebluemoon - delayed response from me. After about 2 weeks my skin stopped burning, the redness calmed down but, it is still super dehyrated and fine lines are still there which I swear were not before.

I tried the Aloe but it stung - this was when it was still red, so I continued with just water and calendula cream. I invested in some new products that have zero chemicals or fragrance and it's been a week and my skin is happy with it, but still doesn't seem to be taking in the moisture.

I definately think I had a reaction to the essential oils in the products.

If you are still looking for products, here is where I purchased from
www.purenuffstuff.co.uk/face-care-products/cream-dream.htm

I can only hope the dehydration can be sorted out, I never had this problem before the reaction. I am taking Omega Oil and drinking plenty of water and hopefully the central heating can go off soon as well.

I don't know if I had it as badly as you but I started getting a reaction to creams in my 40s - redness, itching etc. I tried Simple and all the others: no change. In the end I ditched them all and started using pure almond oil from the grocery counter. I reckoned that if it were deemed safe for cooking, my skin might have a fighting chance. It worked. I now switch between almond, coconut and wheatgerm oil. It also saves me a small fortune in creams.

Reading this makes me realise I am not alone. In the last six weeks, for the first time ever, very violent reaction to ? With very swollen and inflammed lower lip and chin, with weeping skin. First instance I ended up in hospital for a bag of steriods and now just at the end of another flare up, where anti hist and anti itch e45 helped. I am off to Doctors again, but interestingly did use a Simple scrub the day of the last flare up!

I have sensitive skin - it gets red, tight and scaley and I've worked out that the main culprits are beeswax and coconut oil and various other things too. You need to spend some time on google working out what it is for you - read labels and work out what all the ingredients do. I found the ethical consumer site will give you an explanation of the chemicals etc in products and what their role is and possible effects of them. There are other site too.

I also get my moisturisers and shampoo and conditioner from purenuffstuff and from handmade naturals (I'll do the link later)

I never buy anything without carefully reading the labels, I've made mistakes when a product says it's organic or pure or natural but it can still contain harmful ingredients to you. I loved Liz Earle products til I got my rashes and on reading the ingredient list it had beeswax in it!

Good luck

This has happened to me for the first time. I thought it was ringworm! The chemist prescribed over the counter canesten for face and I have been using it for two weeks with no improvement. I went to Docs yesterday and said I was suffering from Rosacea (I have not suffered with this before)

Anyway I have been given antibiotic gel and if that doesn't work I will try Dermalex.

It's so strange it has happened. It's so uncomfortable - on my chin. Red, flakey, itchy skin.

The only thing that I had changed was buying fecking Oil of Ulay. I think it's just an extreme reaction to an ingredient in that cream.

Why would it only affect my chin area though - I don't know...