This past Thursday I had an appointment with the allergist on campus. It was refreshing to talk with someone who was interested in hearing about ALL of my symptoms related to my eyes, not just brushing it off as one thing or another after hearing about a couple of my symptoms. It turns out she can test for environmental allergens, like dust and pollen, and could confirm my raging allergy to cats. She could not, however, test for allergies to things like contact solution or contacts. But the dermatology office can test for that stuff using what they call a patch test. They put two big patches on your back with several different common allergens, leave them on for two days, take them off and look for allergic reactions (swelling, redness, etc) and then you come back two days later and they read it again. This way they can test for contact allergens and things that produce a delayed reaction in your body.
I looked over the list of common things they test for, and I explained that I was really in there to determine if I was allergic to my contacts or the solution, not to see if I was allergic to random things like nickel or latex. She said that was fine - if I brought in some solution and a contact, she could add those to the patch to put on my back. Makes me wonder if I could just cut out the middleman (woman?) and tape a contact lens to my arm for a couple days and see if it gives me a rash afterwards. Not very controlled, obviously, but this patch test doesn't seem very high-tech either.
Anyway, the worst thing about the patch test is that it's a week-long, no-showering-allowed affair. I come in on a Monday to have them put on the patches, then come back on Wednesday to have them removed, then come back on Friday to have them read. The patches cannot get wet because that could reduce the allergic reaction and make it harder to read, and then your back can't get wet between Wednesday and Friday because that could also decrease the allergic reaction. So I can shower Monday morning and Friday afternoon, and in between I'm gonna stink. And it's the end of July.
The other lovely side note to this whole process is that I can't take any antihistamines for a week before the regular skin test, which will be a couple days after the patch test. So it's entirely possible that my eyes will return to all their red, itchy glory during the last week of July. I can't wait.
But even though I'm not looking forward to being an itchy, stinky mess, it'll be nice to have some answers. Seasonal allergies run in my family, and I've never been tested before, so I'm looking forward to actually knowing what I'm allergic to rather than just guessing. The patch test is a little different, I guess, because it doesn't seem like there are as many options for medication or treatment if it turns out I have an allergy to contacts. Solution, yes, but contacts, no. At least none that I know of.
But there is one way around this whole thing, and it stems from the fact that my mother is a certified genius. At least in my book. We were talking on the phone yesterday and she asked if there was anything else that was coming in contact with my eyes - makeup? lotion? I'm not much of a makeup wearer under normal circumstances, and I can assure you that nothing unnecessary has been coming near my eyes since March. But then I thought of one thing - my facewash. Back in November I started taking a medication that made my skin break out like crazy, and although I was able to switch to something else a few months ago and my face has calmed down, I've continued to use this soap that has some lovely acne-fighting acids. Of couse I avoid sticking the stuff directly into my eyes, but no matter how careful I try to be, somehow a little sneaks in every one in a while. Then it hit me - I've been putting ACID in my eyes twice a day for the last four months. No matter what other problems my eyes might have, this most definitely does not help. So I've gotten rid of it and am hoping that my eyes will at least improve some, even if it doesn't completely fix the problem.
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2 comments:
Its ok, when I was in Ecuador, I discovered that I was allergic to sunscreen (rather than a bizarre jungle plant or insect or the unidentifiable fruit juices I kept drinking). You know how I learned of this allergy? I got a bad case of sunburn while coated in sunscreen, and then the next day my hands swelled up to 3 times their normal size. Now its actually more healthy for me to not wear sunscreen than where a non-special-expensive kind that is allergen free. I think the clinic docs want to put a permanent "do not let her go on vacation" in my file.
eeek, good luck :)
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