One of my daughters gets a red itchy rash whenever she wears regular sunscreen like Coppertone or Banana Boat. It starts out on the inside of her elbows and behind her knees, and if we keep applying sunscreen it spreads to her shoulders, neck, arms, etc within two days. Yes - we did that once, not realizing that the sunscreen was causing the reaction.
She does not react to physical sunscreens -- the ones that use zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.
Obviously, I'm not going to put the regular chemical sunscreens on her again, but what I wonder is if anyone else has a child (or themselves) who have this problem? Have you figured out which chemical causes the reaction? I'm trying to figure out if it's the actual sunscreen chemical that causes my daughter to get a rash, or if it's one of the preservatives or something else in the sunscreen.
Thanks for the responses. I'm going to take the suggestion and write down everything in the ones that cause her problems so I have a list in case she breaks out from something else in the future. Just like Cheerful, her rash is little bumps and is incredibly itchy. Lillym, the sunscreen does have avobenzene in it, but I can't be certain that's the culprit as there are quite a few other lovely chemicals in it too.
Gamma G, it's interesting you say that child care providers aren't allowed to put sunscreen on kids where you live. They totally are here - every day care and summer camp puts sunscreen on kids as a regular routine. Fortunately, there are many physical blocker sunscreens we can use so she's not exposed to the sun. I just have to provide a tube for camp so they can make sure they put the right kind on her.
Try coconut oil. Islanders have used it forever. :) My friend became allergic to sunblock after giving birth and while on vaca in Hawaii the locals suggested coconut oil and she swears by it now.
My 3 year old is extremely allergic to most sunscreens. She swells up terribly. I haven't isolated the ingredient yet but I know that she's fine when I use California Baby. If you want to see what the problem ingredient is, compare the ingredients to the offending sunscreens to those of the benign ones. The ones that are different are the ones you can narrow down the problem to.
This may help....
http://www.streetervillepediatrics.com/sun_screens_and_in...
This is the exact reason child care providers are not allowed to put sunscreen on kids. An allergy can form at any time. It sounds like she is really sensitive to this product. I'd see if there are any allergy proof sunscreens out there and try them though. The sun causes a lot of damage these days.
http://allergies.about.com/od/contactdermatitis/a/sunscre...
I have that same allergy to sunscreens. For me I finally isolated it to jojoba oil (I got pure jojoba oil on my skin once and got the same rash).
It could be any ingredient though! But that's the ingredient that did it for me.
Unfortunately the rash I get is little red bumps and they last for a week and itch terribly! It's worse on the most sensitive parts, like the backs of my knees, inside of my arms, etc.
Good luck finding one that works!
my cousin had this issue with her son. I cant remember the ingredient but most of them have it. same thing as you describe, itchy rash. The one kind he can have is Aveeno. good luck to you.
The sunscreen that isn't titanium dioxide is aveobenzone. So I assumed that was what my dd reacts to.
I have not personally... that I can recall details about. I know that I used something once 20 years ago that gave me a bit of a bumpy rash.... no welts, no stinging, etc.
It would probably help if you could/would list the ingredients list. I just googled for common allergic reactions from sunscreen and found this about PABA ( http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/528577_7 ) which is what I seem to recall was in the stuff I used a long time ago that made me react. Some of the derivatives may not be listed as "PABA" but as padimate A (for example) and I think I have probably seen that on more recent iterations of some of the sunscreens.
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oxybenzone can cause reactions in some people, too, and I think that one is pretty common in sunscreens today.
YES - ME! It took me forever to figure it out. I am thinking it might be the spray on stuff that I am allergic to. I get all red and bumpy and swollen. It used to be my legs only but now it's may arms and in March, it was my face, too! I had sprayed some on my hand and put it on my face.
Thanks for all the info. I'll be in FL next week! Need some protection!
I'm allergic to Coppertone, too, E.. The first time it happened was in college. I thought surely that I'd either grown out of that or that they had changed the formula, because I didn't have anymore trouble for 25 years using sunscreen, though I didn't use Coppertone. Then I grabbed a bottle of it off the shelf on the way to the airport on my way to an overseas vacation and threw it in the suitcase. I was so sorry because again, I ended up with a rash. Thankfully I had packed benedryl too, so I took that. I know not to buy Coppertone for the rest of my days...
My mom is severely allergic to most sunscreens. She finally found one brand that she can use that is very expensive. She has to buy it from her dermatologist.
My daughter breaks out with everything. When she was really small, I used zinc oxide..it was really white, but eventually it sinks in and it works really well in terms of sun protection and it's really waterproof. I would actually use the store brand of Desitin (40% zinc) and it was a lot cheaper than sunscreen.
Now that she's a little older (9), her skin has toughened up a bit and I use the Baby banana boat spray SPF 50. She still breaks out a little, but she's too embarrassed to use the really white stuff now.
It could be anything. Preservatives and fragrances are common culprits.
Write down all the ingredients in the sunscreen that gives her the rash. Keep the list. Sometime down the road, she's going to react to something else, a soap, shampoo or lotion. Take that ingredient list and cross reference it with the sunscreen. That should help you narrow it down.
Also keep a list of products she does not react to. That will allow you to know her "safe" ingredients.
Keep in mind that allergies change, especially at certain times of her life: around 5-6 yo, at adolescence, (and later with pregnancy and menopause).
Check the ingredients for PABA. Many people are allergic to it and it is a common ingredient in many sunscreens.
