Known Skin Irritants by Tony Dickenson

Having been in practice as an Acupuncturist and Allergist for 30 years I have seen ever-increasing problems with allergies and, in particular, skin allergies. Eczema seems to be reaching almost epidemic proportions! Obviously in Atopic cases we are looking at hereditary links but the increase is equally evident in non-atopic forms as well.

For years I advised dietary changes, the elimination of milk-based products and the eradication of obvious skin irritants and when coupling this with Acupuncture and orthodox medication I achieved a reasonable success in offering relief and reducing symptoms yet most people still maintained a proportion of their symptoms and had intermittent "flare-ups". Sometimes these crises could be related to Psychological stress but frequently there appeared to be no significant triggering factor.

Like many of the eczema sufferers I became resigned to the fact that all that could be done was being done and that this was as good as it was going to get. Then, as so often happens in life, I stumbled upon something by accident that took us a stage further in offering relief.

I had been treating a woman with Acne Rosacea that, in spite of my best efforts, only responded to topical steroids. She mentioned that cosmetics noticeably worsened her condition so I researched cosmetic contents to see if there were any obvious irritants and expected to find that colourings would be the culprits. However, I found that most products contained Propylene Glycol (a known skin irritant) a substance that imparts a nice soft, slippery feeling to the skin. Furthermore, I found to my surprise, that many prescribed (so called therapeutic) creams also contained this ingredient. She also stated that her face became much more uncomfortable after she had washed her hair and this started me looking into shampoo ingredients.

Sodium lauryl sulphate is a foaming agent and appeared to be in virtually every shampoo, shower gel and bubble bath so obviously it must be OK. However, the data sheets for this chemical state that it is a skin irritant, causes eye irritation, skin rashes and hair loss a rather strange group of effects for something that you put on your hair and scalp and that flows over your body if you wash your hair in the shower. Admittedly, the quoted symptoms in the data sheets referred to concentrated contact but we all wash our hair and our bodies on a daily basis and the cumulative effect of small quantities cannot be ignored. Let's face it one cigarette probably won't harm you but see what happens when you've been smoking for twenty years! Furthermore, most shampoos contained sodium chloride (salt), sometimes euphemistically referred to as Sal or Sal de Mer. A case of rubbing salt in the wound?

Many of the products contained Petrolatum, a mineral oil jelly which can interfere with the body's natural moisturising ability and lead to dry skin and chapping. Really useful if you have eczema!

Once I had digested the side-effects of this cocktail of irritant ingredients I became suspicious that I might have uncovered one of the reasons for the ongoing problems and "flare-ups" that I was seeing with eczema and other skin problems and it then became vital to find a Company that produced personal care products that did not contain these ingredients. Not an easy task but eventually we were successful.

The first success, and justice demanded it, was the lady with Acne Rosacea. By changing her shampoo and makeup her condition of 15 years resolved completely. So, buoyed up with this success, I proffered the same advice to my eczema sufferers and in virtually every case saw improvement. I must confess that although I had been hopeful I was surprised that the improvement was so noticeable. But if we look at the facts it is not surprising that if you remove daily-used skin irritants from people with incredibly sensitive skins and replace them with non-irritant products you are likely to see improvements. Anyone can be allergic to just about anything but we aren't talking about allergy here, we're talking about known skin irritants.

If anyone wants details of products that don't contain the irritants referred to, contact me on gandtd@btinternet.com giving your name and address and I will be only too pleased to forward details to you.

Tony Dickenson

Tel: 01948 860126

 

Page updated: 21 May 2007