I have just recently started with a rash and swelling on my face as well. I went to the doctor and he prescribed steroid pills which immediately started clearing it up but as the medicine tapered off the rash gradually started again. I originally thought it was from either eating pistachios or a lotion i tried from a hotel. I did apply a makeup that may have been tainted by a lotion which could have started it all over again, I'm not sure but the doctor did say it was a contact allergy. The lotion for the hotel was called White Ginger Renewing Body Lotion by Portico Spa. I only mention this to see if there is any common denominator with everyone. It's very frustrating not to mention I lost my pretty. One thought is it may be airborne as I've also had a weird rash that shows up in random places anywhere on my body that lasts for minutes at a time. I'm going to do a major cleaning of my place to see if that helps any bit. I also have a cat...if anyone else can provide more info on what they think the cause may be that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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I have had similar experiences for about a year and a half. What I have learned is that it might not be an allergy but an irritation from something you are using. I narrowed mine down to creamy products like foundation or concealer and some eye creams. I can't use anything with a lot of anti-aging ingredients. I stick with Korres or Nu Skin for moistuirizer and eye cream...and I use Bare Essentials foundation - I'm ok with powder but like I said if I use a liquid makeup I get dry itchy patches and some swelling....good luck.
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The swelling eventually went away but returned a few months later, the common denominator was fumes from a doming resin used on nametags. Once I stopped using it, the swelling never happened again. My allergy was definitely airborne.
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I'm posting this in hopes it will help someone who has itchy, red skin on his/her face like I did.
Over the last few years, my face started becoming very itchy and red, causing me much aggravation and suffering. Medication provided initial relief, but then stopped working. After lengthy suffering, countless visits to dermatologists, and a tremendous stockpile of various prescription medications in my bathroom, I finally discovered the cause and am thrilled to have my skin healthy again.
Since I searched numerous dermatological forums with no luck, I’m posting this in hopes I can save some people a lot of heartache and trouble. Although, I written the whole story below, I’m going to give you the bottom line right now:
I’d developed a sensitivity to propylene glycol and/or parabens. Both these ingredients are in 99% of the products we all put on our faces.
Prior to discovering the cause, I was misdiagnosed and told over and over again by doctors and physician’s assistants that I could do nothing about it except find a prescription medication that worked for me, and then, at best it would only control the itchiness and redness, not cure it.
I want to stress that you may suffer from a skin condition different from the one I was misdiagnosed with, so who knows if my story will help you. I do know that had I accepted what the doctor told me, I’d still be suffering, so you owe it to yourself, no matter what the diagnosis is, to think for yourself and do the research to ensure there are not alternate solutions or perhaps other culprits that may cause your condition versus what your doctor says.
Here’s a bit of background:
-It started as a slight redness to my facial skin, mostly cheeks, that itched a lot
-At its worse, toward the end, my face would burn when I sweated when working out, which I do often
-Dermatologist diagnosed it as seborrheic dermatitis and said there was no cure, only control
-Doctor initially prescribed desonide lotion, which worked quite well. He also gave me anti-fungal creams, which didn’t work as well as the desonide
-The doctor cautioned me not to use it too much desonide due to the steroid in it. He said once a day was fine
-I used for a year or so and it kept my skin looking decent until I noticed that I seemed to need to use it more often.
-I also educated myself about topical steroids and became concerned that I was using too much, but whenever I’d try to wean myself from it, my skin was itchier and redder than it ever had been before
-Voicing my concerns to the doctor, or one of his PAs, prescribed other medications to try including Xolegel, Ketoconazole 2% Cream, and others
-Every time I time I tried to stop the desonide, and only use one of the anti-fungal creams, my skin flared up and became inflamed.
-I went to an allergist to see if I was allergic to anything and all tests came back negative
-Over time, the redness and itchiness had spread to my forehead, nose as well.
Finally, at wit’s end, I went to another dermatologist for a second opinion. I told her I just didn’t believe that there was nothing that could be done for my skin and I really wanted her to keep an open mind when diagnosing me. Plus, I didn’t seem to have the scaling that other’s had for seborrheic dermatitis. It had to be something else.
She took her time with me and really scrutinized my skin. I told her all the medications I’d tried. At first she thought it could be steroid induced rosacea from the topicals I’d been using. I agreed to stop the topical steroids although she warned me that my skin may get worse before it got better. She also told me to wash with Cetaphil cleanser and then put Cetaphil cream on my face after washing.
I did as she ask, but it didn’t get better. And I noticed that when I put the Cetaphil cream on, my face flared up even worse. I tried other lotions, many of them my wife’s facial lotions that were supposed to be good, or so I thought, such as Clinique’s dramatically different moisturizing lotion, Philosophy’s Hope in a Jar, Aveeno, and others. All had the same reaction, to inflame my face.
I finally sucked it up and put nothing on my face, but in addition to my face being read, and very itchy it was also supremely dry. But in doing so, with the redness in full bloom, it allowed me to see a pattern on my face. I had no problem with the skin around my eyes, or on my neck. I realized then, the redness was only in the areas where I always put lotion on my face, whether it was the desonide or some other lotion.
Even though my initial itchiness and redness had been on the checks, I had become so dependent on the topical steroid, that anytime I had any redness elsewhere, like forehead, or nose, I started using it there also.
When I pointed this out to my new dermatologist, something clicked, and she said she now thought I had developed a sensitivity to propylene glycol (which is the same thing they use in anti-freeze) and/or parabens. She gave me samples of EpiCerem, but told me it was a bit expensive and to try to find lotions that did not have the PG and parabens in them.
Here’s the kicker: I went home and check all the ingredients of the prescription medicines and all the lotions I’d used, including the Cetaphil products. They all had propylene glycol in them—desonide, anti-fungal creams, Cetaphil products, Clinique’s moisturizer. The Aveeno didn’t, but it had parabens.
I believe the propylene glycol in the desonide was really doing a number on my face for a long time, however, because the steroid reduced redness, it was hidden. So over time, I was damaging my skin, but unaware because the steroid masked it.
I searched high and low for products without propylene glycol and parabens in them, but they are very difficult to find. One product was Malibu C’s sensitive Skin Oil Free Moisterizer:
***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed
I finally settled on Exederm’s moisturizer and baby wash:
***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed
Using propylene glycol and paraben-free products have made all the difference in the world to my skin. However, I’m always paranoid that products I like will get discontinued so I’m searching for alternatives.
I hope this helps people and I’m interested to know of other products that are propylene glycol and paraben-free. I even changed the hair gel I used to a propylene glycol-free one and now my head itches much less.
Over the last few years, my face started becoming very itchy and red, causing me much aggravation and suffering. Medication provided initial relief, but then stopped working. After lengthy suffering, countless visits to dermatologists, and a tremendous stockpile of various prescription medications in my bathroom, I finally discovered the cause and am thrilled to have my skin healthy again.
Since I searched numerous dermatological forums with no luck, I’m posting this in hopes I can save some people a lot of heartache and trouble. Although, I written the whole story below, I’m going to give you the bottom line right now:
I’d developed a sensitivity to propylene glycol and/or parabens. Both these ingredients are in 99% of the products we all put on our faces.
Prior to discovering the cause, I was misdiagnosed and told over and over again by doctors and physician’s assistants that I could do nothing about it except find a prescription medication that worked for me, and then, at best it would only control the itchiness and redness, not cure it.
I want to stress that you may suffer from a skin condition different from the one I was misdiagnosed with, so who knows if my story will help you. I do know that had I accepted what the doctor told me, I’d still be suffering, so you owe it to yourself, no matter what the diagnosis is, to think for yourself and do the research to ensure there are not alternate solutions or perhaps other culprits that may cause your condition versus what your doctor says.
Here’s a bit of background:
-It started as a slight redness to my facial skin, mostly cheeks, that itched a lot
-At its worse, toward the end, my face would burn when I sweated when working out, which I do often
-Dermatologist diagnosed it as seborrheic dermatitis and said there was no cure, only control
-Doctor initially prescribed desonide lotion, which worked quite well. He also gave me anti-fungal creams, which didn’t work as well as the desonide
-The doctor cautioned me not to use it too much desonide due to the steroid in it. He said once a day was fine
-I used for a year or so and it kept my skin looking decent until I noticed that I seemed to need to use it more often.
-I also educated myself about topical steroids and became concerned that I was using too much, but whenever I’d try to wean myself from it, my skin was itchier and redder than it ever had been before
-Voicing my concerns to the doctor, or one of his PAs, prescribed other medications to try including Xolegel, Ketoconazole 2% Cream, and others
-Every time I time I tried to stop the desonide, and only use one of the anti-fungal creams, my skin flared up and became inflamed.
-I went to an allergist to see if I was allergic to anything and all tests came back negative
-Over time, the redness and itchiness had spread to my forehead, nose as well.
Finally, at wit’s end, I went to another dermatologist for a second opinion. I told her I just didn’t believe that there was nothing that could be done for my skin and I really wanted her to keep an open mind when diagnosing me. Plus, I didn’t seem to have the scaling that other’s had for seborrheic dermatitis. It had to be something else.
She took her time with me and really scrutinized my skin. I told her all the medications I’d tried. At first she thought it could be steroid induced rosacea from the topicals I’d been using. I agreed to stop the topical steroids although she warned me that my skin may get worse before it got better. She also told me to wash with Cetaphil cleanser and then put Cetaphil cream on my face after washing.
I did as she ask, but it didn’t get better. And I noticed that when I put the Cetaphil cream on, my face flared up even worse. I tried other lotions, many of them my wife’s facial lotions that were supposed to be good, or so I thought, such as Clinique’s dramatically different moisturizing lotion, Philosophy’s Hope in a Jar, Aveeno, and others. All had the same reaction, to inflame my face.
I finally sucked it up and put nothing on my face, but in addition to my face being read, and very itchy it was also supremely dry. But in doing so, with the redness in full bloom, it allowed me to see a pattern on my face. I had no problem with the skin around my eyes, or on my neck. I realized then, the redness was only in the areas where I always put lotion on my face, whether it was the desonide or some other lotion.
Even though my initial itchiness and redness had been on the checks, I had become so dependent on the topical steroid, that anytime I had any redness elsewhere, like forehead, or nose, I started using it there also.
When I pointed this out to my new dermatologist, something clicked, and she said she now thought I had developed a sensitivity to propylene glycol (which is the same thing they use in anti-freeze) and/or parabens. She gave me samples of EpiCerem, but told me it was a bit expensive and to try to find lotions that did not have the PG and parabens in them.
Here’s the kicker: I went home and check all the ingredients of the prescription medicines and all the lotions I’d used, including the Cetaphil products. They all had propylene glycol in them—desonide, anti-fungal creams, Cetaphil products, Clinique’s moisturizer. The Aveeno didn’t, but it had parabens.
I believe the propylene glycol in the desonide was really doing a number on my face for a long time, however, because the steroid reduced redness, it was hidden. So over time, I was damaging my skin, but unaware because the steroid masked it.
I searched high and low for products without propylene glycol and parabens in them, but they are very difficult to find. One product was Malibu C’s sensitive Skin Oil Free Moisterizer:
***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed
I finally settled on Exederm’s moisturizer and baby wash:
***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed
Using propylene glycol and paraben-free products have made all the difference in the world to my skin. However, I’m always paranoid that products I like will get discontinued so I’m searching for alternatives.
I hope this helps people and I’m interested to know of other products that are propylene glycol and paraben-free. I even changed the hair gel I used to a propylene glycol-free one and now my head itches much less.
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ok so same problem i am 13 but I have the heredity eczema from my grandpa and my cheeks are red and swollen for around 2 days now and I look and feel swollen. It is really itchy and then they have like a trail leading down to my neck and from my elbow to like a few centimeters up there are red dots. At my elbows I have the rash and blister problem but I have no problem with that since I have had that before and I am currently using hydrocortisone 10 cream with aloe there. The problem is that I don't know what to do with my face and I have school on Monday and I DO NOT WANT TO LOOK THAT WAY considering I already have acne. So please I need help I am currently drinking q-dryl and the allergy pill my dermatologist had given me. Please help I hate medicine and my face is very very itchy!!!
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I also have been suffering for YEARS from a red sore itchy rash that covers my cheeks, is around my eyes and in my eyebrows and involves the upper lip; sometimes I am swollen and sometimes I am not. It begain in 2008 after exposure to Latex. I have had allergies for years but I have always been able to control them. I presented to the ER and was so swollen and sick that they wanted to hospitalize me. As I have no insurance I refused and they started me on prednisone and it worked but only temporarily. For the next 18 months the only treatment I was offered was predinsone and it really no longer has any affected on the rash and I gained 40 lbs that I am struggling to loose! I really hate how I look! I struggle daily with itching and pain. It is not unusually for me to awaken 3-4 times a night with pain and itching - I get up wash my face and cover it with lotion (Eucerin) which at least soothes the sore skin. I'm at my wits end. Currently I am in another crisis time with my skin and its embarrassing to have to go out in public! Ijust don't know what to do or try. I have tried every allergy medicine out there. I've used corticosteroid creams (including several prescription strengths). I keep my skin clean and dry and moisturized. I've even tried local honey to neutrilize my reaction to local pollen....and nothing works! I've heard that it could possible be lupus but I have not had a blood test to confirm this. When I have the rash my energy level is way down and I really don't feel like doing anything.................It affects every aspect of my life! I am a nursing student and when I go to the hospital to work I have to explain that the rash is just an allergy and that it is not an infection - so embarrasing! Does anyone have any ideas??
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Hi,
Hope everyone is managing to stay positive - this is a miserable and lonely condition. But you are evidently not alone :)
I started off 4 weeks ago with a rough, dry, upper lip, then a week or so later red cheeks, and the next day boom! swollen top lip, and eyes. My skin was itchy, and dry with a rash in the effected areas - it looked like the butterfly rash symptomatic of Lupus but I assumed it was a bad case of ezcema and used hydrocortisone for a week which helped the rash and swelling but I still had scaly, dry, skin.
A week after using the hydrocortisone my top lip swelled up again. I freaked out and went to the doctor who said, "Swollen eyes and lips are a severe reaction and you should have seen a doctor immediately!" he also said that he could have prescribed an oral steroid which would have taken care of the swelling in a couple of hours but prescribed antihistamines hoping it would stop my eyes from swelling too. They didn't. The next day (this morning) I could barely open my right eye, the swelling is much worse this time and the rash is spreading over my face, with itchy spots on my forearms and neck. I went to the hospital again and a nurse prescribed prednisolone (6x a day for three days). An hour and a half later my eyelid swelling has gone down but it is not the miracle drug I was told it was. I am still unrecognisable.
I think I have Lupus because 6 months ago I experienced a random patch of hair loss which has grown back but I have to go to the doctors for blood tests which I am demanding tomorrow! Demand to be seen, demand treatment, do it now, I thought it would go away, it doesn't. I read that advice on a post 2 weeks ago and decided it didn't apply to me...
I don't have any allergies and doubt that this is the cause but I promise I will keep you posted on how I get on.
You really have to go and see the doctor though. I know it's a mission and you might want to hide away until this has passed but this might just be the tip of the ice-burg. Tell the doctor everything, even something that might have happened last year. MAKE them listen.
I think the worst part of this is seeing other people, who needs mirrors when you can read a face right? Stick on some sunglasses and go and get fixed :).
Stay strong, x x x
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Just incase anyone is naughty and doesn't go to the doctors (like me at first): DO NOT USE HYDROCORTISONE ON YOUR LIPS I found a source that said it was ok, the doctor said this is not advised for this kind of reaction. Use vaseline on lips or diprobase cream moisturiser for dry skin which is soothing for your itchy places too, aqueous cream irritates eczema. My lips went black after the first bout of swelling - this is normal - doc said it's because the skin stretched then returned to normal size. Deal with that puppy later (gently toothbrush exfoliate daily methinks). Also don't try to scratch off the dry skin, you might scar! Peace, x x x
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Im sitting here reading all ya'lls writings with the same symtoms. my head is tight. Nose stopped up. Eyes bout shut. And would love to scratch hard enough to peel skin. In the last three days my face has swollen with each day. This is the first time this has happened to me. Trying to learn why. My sinuses were bad before this happened. Day before this started I took some prescrip clariton. Don't know if it may have caused this or not. My wife said i've taken it before. Anyways ive started taking Oil of Oregano and Colloidial Silver. Ive had great luck in the past with almost everything else using these. I will tell ya'll though, im a big believer in ( if your body is right it can fend off anything) My body is not right but when it was I never would get sick from anything. Not from alergies, flu, cold, viruses, nothing. Fasting. Juicing fruits and vegetables, and grinding your own grain. I just wanted to let ya'll know that. Our bodies are tougher than the medical field would have you think. Just my own opinion. Luke
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I have the same symptoms, i had supper sunday night and my wife noticed a rash i though nothig of it. she went out and came back later that evening and my face was swollen and red. I have gone to the hospital and they gave me benadryl and that seems to do othing, the doctor also prescribed hydrocortison cream. I hope that works. I dont have strep throat , stress is the same so I am not sure what it could be,at first i thought it as a food allergy. I cn relate to everyone the most bothersome thing for me is thatI don wana go out in public looking like a grapefruit. Face ll swollen and red.
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Thank you for this information. I've been struggling for about 4 years with similar symptoms. I've given up all creams, and have limited myself to shampoo, conditioner and hand soap. I have also given up wine and all spirits as they make it worse. Today is a bad day. But, given your thoughts and ideas, shall check out the ingredients in the cleansers I do use. Thank you very much for providing us with your story. Best!
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I have something similar the only thing is that my symptoms come every now and then it stays for about a week then goes away and then it just reappears. I put cortisone cream, blue star, and aquaphor but nothing helps. I have always beed real sensitive to the sun. I think I may be one of the only african americans that get severe sunburn even with sun blocker. I make sure I dont go into the sun. The way theese welts are on my cheaks and nose this is exactly how it feels when i get sunburned. I need help.
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I had the same thing, was given an oral steroid to get the swelling down and told I had a severe allergy to something. I maintained that I did not have an allergy but didn't know what caused it. The steroid would make it go down but I would swell back up again after a week. Eventually I found out I had a staph infection which, I was given some anti biotics and it never came back.
I'm sorry you're going through this it's really stressful but you'll be ok soon. When you see the doctor ask for an emollient cream as well so when you get rid of the swelling you can get your skin back in good condition. I used diprobase cream, then, when all the redness was gone, I used a little olive oil all over my face before bed. Avocado oil is amazing but more expensive. All the best.
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My mom is 59, she started about 2 years now n still has it.. She gets very reddish an swollen from face.. Eyelids top. And cheecks, around the nose, forhead...her whole face.. And she says its very itchy.. It comes n gose... Shell be ok today then tomarrow boom.. Ill last her a few days and then it seems to calm down. But for 2 years now shes been having tjis n tryed just about everything for allergys.. It also seems to get worse druing the summer.. She is egard to find a cure or know what it is.. Pleasr help.
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