After realising he had been exposed daily to the same allergens that caused his red, blotchy skin, a writer realized why he had suffered for so many years from it.
Will Hayward was a writer who had suffered with red, blotchy, or irritated skin for many years. It wasn’t until lockdown when he finally realized what was up.
Click here to see the article Wales Online,Will stated that his skin problems began around ten year ago. “burning feeling”On his face leading into “horrible red blotches”In a matter of hours.
Sometimes Will also has to suffer. “scratchy rashes”On his neck and in his hair, seemingly without any reason.
Will attempted several solutions to the problem, not knowing what to do. After experiencing skin irritations after drinking, Will decided to quit.
He continued to test out “every moisturiser under the sun”He used to apply sunscreen and gave up dairy products.
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Will has struggled with his self-esteem since his mysterious flare ups. Will has also cancelled dates and shut off his camera during video chats.
A dermatologist incorrectly diagnosed him as having rosacea. This is a condition that causes blushing, flushing and visible blood vessels. He gave him creams and advised him to quit caffeine.
This did a partial job, as it reduced some of the redness at low levels. Will’s blotches, flare-ups, and redness remained. “just as severe”They also appeared quite frequently.
Will was then referred to a dermatologist. He was diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis. This is a common skin condition that affects people with rosacea and causes itchy rashes, flaky scales, and redness.
Will kept his caffeine-free diet going, continued to use his antibiotic rosacea crème for rosacea and added more. “special shampoo to the mix”. But, he was again given the wrong diagnosis.
Will’s skin continued to get worse despite his efforts to take precautionary measures up until the day that the UK placed lockdown. Within weeks, Will saw dramatic improvements.
Will said: “Occasionally it would still go a bit bad but in those early days of the pandemic my skin was better than it had been for years. I didn’t understand it but I wasn’t complaining!
“As the world began to reopen, I started going outside more often and my skin started to get worse. This was especially true when I returned last autumn after being away for a year and half. It was actually worse than that.”
After being referred to another dermatologist, Will underwent a patch test. whereby “Many allergens are possible” are stuck on a person’s back in order to figure out exactly what they might be allergic to.
It was discovered that Will was in fact allergic to two chemicals, Methylisothiazolinone and 2-brom-2-nitropropane -1,3-diol.
The first chemical was easy to avoid, and has been slowly phased out over the past twenty years. However, the first chemical, Methylisothiazolinone, is a different matter entirely, given that it’s found in a number of everyday products.
The list includes toiletries such as soaps, shower gels, shampoos, and sun creams, as well as everyday essentials such as fairly liquid and furniture polish.
After purging his home of such products, Will ran into further difficulties at the office when he realised the automatic air freshener in the men’s toilets contained the chemical.
Will wrote: “The product was removed by my employer, who is supportive. Now, I’m sitting in my office writing this article. For the first time in many years, my skin isn’t hurting!
“Now I may be getting ahead of myself here. I haven’t been back to the doc yet and I am still on the antibiotics. However, I think after a decade I finally understand my condition and know how to manage it.
“Over the coming months, I will be coming off the antibiotics and various cremes and potentially introducing chocolate back into my life (I would f***ing love my first Twix in four years) to see what impact it has.”
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