Not just pollen, with sneezing, watery eyes, dripping nose. The first warm weather also brings with it skin allergies which, although they cannot be defined as strictly seasonal, are ‘enhanced’ by the warmer climate of this period and characterized by intense itching and eczema. The most colorful clothes, sunscreens, deodorants and perfumes, plants and flowers picked with bare hands, and even the painting of the house which is planned more frequently when the days improve, are under attack.
“Skin allergies have completely different mechanisms from respiratory ones. These are very different pathologies, diversified from seasonal ones not only in terms of the symptoms: the ‘protagonists’, the cells, the mediators change. And skin-to-skin contact is necessary and allergen”, explains Luca Stingeni, professor of Dermatology at the University of Perugia and coordinator of the skin allergy study group of the Italian Society of Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (Sidemast), to Adnkronos Salute.
Seasonality, however, “can interfere – continues the expert – because the higher temperature, the high relative humidity rate, can facilitate greater contact with substances which penetrate the skin more quickly. The classic example is allergies caused by some colors used to dye clothing. The increased sweating, even the invisible one that we do not feel, acts as a sort of solvent and allows some chemical substances present in clothes, primarily dyes, to be released more easily from the tissue, rapidly penetrating the skin”. Furthermore, in this period, “more colorful clothes are worn and, above all, the treated fabrics come into direct contact with the skin, without the interposition of tank tops, socks or anything else”.
Another product most used in the summer “is sun cream which we obviously always recommend to protect against sun damage. But unfortunately in some people they can cause reactions”, continues Stingeni who recalls how skin allergies are characterized by two elements : “Intense itching and eczema, ranging from redness to swelling and the appearance of blisters.” Other products at risk of allergy are “deodorants, perfumes. Perfuming essences have a great impact: there are European regulations to quantify the maximum concentrations of the various substances, but unfortunately people continue to become sensitized. Furthermore, in the cosmetics sector, every now and then we observe some ‘epidemic’ of allergy to some preservative or other ingredient. Moreover, in this field, the various components are continuously updated with all the unknowns of the case”.
Furthermore, in this period, when the start of painting work on the walls of the house is more common, “especially water-based paints – he warns – can release chemical substances capable of triggering reactions. In this case there is no contact direct, but the particles dispersed through the air, in a closed environment, are deposited on the skin (we are technically talking about airborne contact). to penetrate the tissues. It can trigger a very serious clinical picture.”
Finally, there can also be contact with allergenic substances of natural origin, “such as plants belonging to the composites, an enormous family: the artichoke, field daisies and sunflowers are part of this. Touching them can cause skin allergies. It often happens in field of work, for example for the farmer who collects sunflowers. In this case we could define these allergies as ‘seasonal’, in some way. To give another more ‘exotic’ example, it is known that in Northern Europe contact with the bulbs of tulips can induce an important pathology that affects flower growers”, concludes the dermatologist.
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