Sticky back plastic: my (historic) run in with seborrheic dermatitis, and testing perfumes in unusual places

Long term readers (or any Instagram followers) may recall that I am prone to several kinds of dermatitis: mainly the allergic and irritant contact variety, about which I have done a few posts, most notably - and graphically! - this one.

I did also have a six month spell of seborrheic dermatitis, which came out of nowhere after the first Covid booster vaccine - I will of course never know if the two things are connected. This consisted of red blotches randomly dotted around my face, and it also resembled dandruff due to the addition of flaky white bits, particularly in my eyebrows and hairline. It was pretty unsightly, and no sooner had some patches subsided than new ones sprung up in different spots, a bit like the Visual Field Test in the optician's, where you have to track a pinprick of white light darting around the screen - or a vintage bagatelle-style fruit machine, if anyone remembers those. ;) 

Anyway, I did a lot of research about possible cures, and eventually lit upon a blog post by a guy who had been suffering from seborrheic dermatitis for many years, trying over 30 remedies to no avail. One of the few supplements that had worked for him was L-glutamine, and since this was the only one of the several things he mentioned that I could readily access, I gave it a go, and sure enough, within a month or so I was completely free of the blotches, and they have never returned. I did find that L-glutamine made me very wakeful at night though, so was glad to come off it, being a scrappy sleeper at the best of times.

Now I can't say for sure either that the L-glutamine "cured" my skin issue - it may have been a placebo effect, as the blogger was so convinced of its efficacy, and these complaints do sometimes completely resolve or come and go of their own accord, which was my doctor's theory. He did still refer me for some allergy patch testing, something I had already undergone seven years previously for the other types of dermatitis I have; these had thrown up that old chestnut nickel, plus benzoyl peroxide (typically found in acne medications to which I have had bad reactions in the past) and more suprisingly, Vitamin E, especially in its synthetic form (tocopherol acetate).

The original test date came through when I was laid up with trapped nerves in my neck in 2022, so it was in fact only last month that my appointment was reinstated. And so on a Tuesday in late August I headed up to a clinic in Basford, near Stoke-on-Trent. The area is a notorious traffic black spot, and I had to run the gauntlet of multiple warning signs saying "Road Work's" and "Delay's" with rogue apostrophes, which I am amazed haven't caused pile ups involving shocked and distracted grammar nerds.

Source: Stoke on Trent Live

At the clinic it took no time at all to stick a big clear plastic sheet on my upper back, filled with lint pockets that had been impregnated with mostly chemical allergens. I wasn't told what any of them were, but was simply urged not to get my back wet until Saturday(!). After 48 hours the patches could come off, as any reaction would have taken place by then, but I still had to keep my back dry till my return visit. Which sounds fairly simple, but turned out to be tricky in practice on several counts. Firstly, the plastic sheet tugged constantly at my skin, pulling it in different directions, like an Elastoplast you have initially put on too tightly. In this case though, I was not able to remove and re-stick the sheet down in another position, so I had to put up with the itchy, scratchy, pulling sensation; this was especially uncomfortable at night when I positively rustled with every move in bed.

I stuck to very shallow sit up baths for the week, which were manageable, but meant I couldn't have a soothing soak for the irritated skin under the plastic, or for my collection of 20+ midge bites, which happened to be in full angry red cry at the same time. (They were mainly at the front and down my sides - had they been on my back I was worried they might confound the test!) 

The next challenge was finding a friend to carefully peel the sheet off after 48 hours, and then go over all the ink marks again, which would help the nurses figure out which allergen(s) had "gone off" - my back had been divided up in a grid system to accommodate the 50 numbered substances. I enlisted the help of my friend Gillie, who is an artist amongst her many other talents; she did a great job of re-inking my back with the marker pen the clinic had provided. She also photographed the area as soon as the sheet was off.

Two hours later, I was meant to take a photo of my back once it had settled down after the removal of the sheet, so I asked a neighbour to pop over and do the honours (it didn't look any different in fact, but we followed the clinic's instructions to the letter). I tell you, where health matters are involved, living alone can be logistically complicated!

On Saturday I duly went back to Basford, trying and failing to unsee the "Road Work's" and "Delay's" signs again, which were still very much in place. A nurse inspected my back and declared that I had had a reaction to nickel and nothing else. It turns out that they didn't include my other two known irritants in this panel, so I had no way of telling if I was still allergic to those, but the nurse said just to take that as read. I was finally issued with a list of all the things they had tested me for, and it was interesting to note that a few were perfume-related, and hadn't bothered me at all. I had rather assumed this would be so, but it was nice to have it confirmed, as the odd friend has suggested that my perfume hobby might be bothering my skin.

Here are the substances I clocked as perfume ingredients - there may also be one or two more I didn't recognise:

• Balsam Peru
• Fragrance Mix 1 & II (I don't know what was included in these selections)
• Linalool
• Limonene

On an unrelated note, I spotted that allergen No 1 is potassium dichromate. Does anyone remember setting fire to that in chemistry class at school and creating a volcanic eruption? Ah, hold on - I just checked and it was ammonium dichromate, not potassium. Here's a video of the experiment I remember doing - fast forward to a minute in for the main action.

Which nostalgic memory - coupled with the fact that it's that "back to school" time of year - reminded me of covering my new text books in "sticky back plastic" - mostly clear, occasionally with a coloured tint. Now there's a more comfortable use for the stuff! ;)

If you have had patch testing for allergies, I would be interested to know what your findings were  - hopefully nothing perfume-related!