Hypersensitivity in therapists. Advice please!

[Nicola goff]

Hi
This is my first post on here and I'm hoping all you knowledgable girls can help me
I've been working as a therapist for 10 years now. And I think I've developed a hypersensitivity issue. I've got a really dry (furry type feeling) in my throat: and my eyelids are red, sore and go dry and flakey.
This started happening last year particularly when I was doing spray tans. However it's now happening even when I don't do any tans at all.
I've been on holiday for two weeks and it went away completely. This week I've been really busy at work catching up and it's now back! The main treatments I've done this week are mainly soak offs & new sets gellish & LVL lashes. I'm thinking it could be maybe acetone? (But then surely it would be on my hands and it's not?) - so maybe it's the lash perm solution? Inhaling of it alone maybe?
I love my job and have such a successful busy business - I'm slightly panicking this is just going to be something that gets worse over time!
Any help appreciated cxxx

 

[CFBS]

You poor thing.
I became sensitive to st tropez years ago because I was in contact with it so much. I had red eyes and tiny red spots all over my whole body - not a great look!
The rash went when I took an antihistamine like piriteze.

Perhaps try taking a daily dose of piriteze for a week to see if it makes a difference.

See your doctor for proper advice though.

 

[cat42]

Be careful!
Buy some fume masks, barrier cream and ALWAYS wear gloves!
I did nails for 6 yrs with no problem and I now have a massive acrylate allergy and have had to stop doing nails. If you start become sensitive to things and you keep exposing yourself to them you will develop allergies and the symptoms will get worse.
I'm not saying this to scare you- I wish someone had told me! Then maybe I would of took more precautions with PPE before it got to the point I had to stop doing them indefinitely.
Good luck! X (patch tests I had done at hospital)

 

[Nicola goff]

Thankyou for taking your time to reply. Yes my symptoms are defo getting more frequent and worse. Which scares me to think has my career in this got a ticking time bomb on!
I don't think it's contact with a certain product as my hands are fine. I think it's more inhalation. After spray tans my eyelids and nostrils would go red and my throat would feel itchy and I would be coughing through the night (feeling like I was coming down with a cold but then it would never progress) - the fact it cleared so much on holiday and then has flared up so badly after just 5 days back at work I'm suspecting the perm solution doing LVL lashes. I've got more in tomorrow so will try opening the window and wearing a mask but it is a bit of a nightmare when u love your job but then end up feeling louzy from it! Ile also get lots of gloves ordered then. When u say 'barrier cream' - so u mean to put this on my hands when doing treatments? X

 

[AcidPerm]

See your GP and ask them to refer you for allergy testing to work out which chemicals you've become sensitive to.

I had the same type of tests as @cat42 and I am allergic to acrylates and had to give up doing nails completely. My breathing was being affected and my consultant was very firm about not taking silly risks.

If you find out what the cause is an eliminate it, you can still carry on with other treatments.

 

[Nicola goff]

Thanks for your reply. I went to the docs on Monday and they diagnosed it as chemical asthma fm the inhalation of the products I'm using. I've got inhalers and they've told me to test my breathing with a breathing scope before and after treatments to try and determine when it's triggered. I definitely think it's the lash perming solution - as its calmed down this week and I havnt had as many in - and when I have I've done it next to open windows and gone out the room when it's developing. It's not massively convenient freezing all my clients but it's that or nothing at the moment, as like you said you can't take silly risks with things like this xxxx

 

[Cotton]

See your GP and ask them to refer you for allergy testing to work out which chemicals you've become sensitive to.

I had the same type of tests as @cat42 and I am allergic to acrylates and had to give up doing nails completely. My breathing was being affected and my consultant was very firm about not taking silly risks.

If you find out what the cause is an eliminate it, you can still carry on with other treatments.

I've recently had a patch test which confirmed an allergy to acrylates and told to stay well away. I'm self employed with a big client base and nails are my main income. My concern is when training I was never made aware of the dangers and risks of over exposure. Is this normal? I feel so let down by my college that I wasn't told about this and precautions that could be taken like wearing gloves etc. I'd love to hear your opinion on this. I feel like this should be a requirement to the course or am I being silly and should it just be common sense? Thank you for your advice In advance!