Food allergies and skin

[Laquila]

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. I have generally problem skin - not as bad as it was when I was younger but a bit of hormonal acne and quite sensitive (again, not as bad as it was before I had children).

I manage it ok with a combo of LRP, niacinamide, facial oils, Paula’s Choice BHA or Alpha H Liquid Gold, and a variety of impulse-buys 🙄 most of the time it’s fine, and my skin is actually fairly glowy, if not clear 😀

The past week or so I’ve had outbreaks of sensitive small spots, mainly around the jawline and towards my hairline. The later makes me think it might be hair-product-related but I haven’t changed anything. I haven’t changed washing powder, make-up, cleanser or brushes. It doesn’t seem to be hormonal, and it’s taking a long time to heal. HELLLLLLLLLP. What else could I be reacting to? Has anyone had good results eliminating potential food allergens such as dairy or gluten? I love both so much 😫

Have you seen the gp? I had acne really, really badly this summer and the gp said she wouldn’t put up with it and doesn’t expect her patients to either. I have antibiotics, prescription azaelic acid & she's referring me to dermatology if it doesn’t settle in the next 3 weeks.

I have a cows milk allergy & removing milk made no difference to my acne whatsoever.

Thanks Fluffy. I haven’t seen the doc about it since I was a teenager, mainly because I didn’t have much luck with what they prescribed me (other than Dianette) over the years. I feel like this last flare-up isn’t acne though, really - what I think of my acne isn’t that bad at all anymore - this seems to be something else. My skin feels more sensitive than usual, and spots are taking absolutely ages to heal. It’s so frustrating!! I guess it’s unlikely to be be an allergy to something I usually eat, so probably something topical/environmental.

I was on dianette too.

If a spot isn’t healing it’s probably more infected than you realise. Things that prevent healing are infection, debris in the wound or poor health due to systemic disease eg diabetes. I have post inflammatory hyperpigmentation scarring now where the infection has been.

When I had my milk allergy start it was red raised lumps on my face but it escalated quickly to a rash on my body and a vivid red raised lumpy rash on my arms.

Honestly I would see the gp, my skins 50% better in a week. Don’t do what I did and battle on with it hoping each new treatment will work.

Cutting out dairy really worked for me. Got rid of mostly everything.

The other thing was sorbitol. Sometimes it’s used as a sweetener in things like chewing gum/sugar free sweets, but mostly it’s in tree fruits and some nuts.

I think with dairy it was the lactose causing a gut imbalance. Apparently sorbitol affects your ability to absorb other sugars, so it makes other sugars have the same affect as lactose.

As long as I avoid dairy and sorbitol as prt of my regular diet, I can have a small amount of full fat dairy very occasionally as a treat, maybe once every couple of months ( scoop of ice-cream, buttery crumpet or some milk/white chocolate, small hot chocolate with whipped cream). It’s easy to just eat other fruits/nuts (I’d have strawberries and hazelnuts now rather than cherries and almonds). So I don’t bother having rare treats of those.