And The Verdict Is In...

In my last post, I talked a little bit about the T.R.U.E Test and what made me seek out contact allergy testing. After over two years of mystery itching, it was time to figure out what was going on. And so I finally dragged myself into the dermatologist on three separate occasions in a single week and let them stick itchy tape all over my back. I was just praying that I wasn't allergic to my nail polish!

The T.R.U.E test is a skin allergy patch test that looks for contact sensitivity to the 35 most common skin irritants. According to the T.R.U.E Test website, the test includes:

Nickel sulfate
Wool alcohols
Neomycin sulfate
Potassium dichromate
Caine mix
Fragrance mix
Colophony
Paraben mix
Negative control
Balsam of Peru
Ethylenediamine dihydrochloride
Cobalt Dichloride

p-tert-Butylphenol formaldehyde resin
Epoxy resin
Carba mix
Black rubber mix
Cl+ Me- isothiazolinone (MCI/MI)
Quaternium-15
Methyldibromo glutaronitrile
p-Phenylenediamine
Formaldehyde
Mercapto mix
Thimerosal
Thiuram mix

Diazolidinyl urea
Quinoline mix
Tixocortol-21-pivalate
Gold sodium thiosulfate
Imidazolidinyl urea
Budesonide
Hydrocortizone-17-butyrate
Mercaptobenzothiazole
Bacitracin
Parthenolide
Disperse blue 106
2-Bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (Bronopol)

My most prominent reaction was to gold, but apparently gold frequently produces false positives. I haven't worn much gold over the past few years (ever since my fingers got too fat for my wedding ring), so I guess I'll just have to see if it's something that actually bothers me.

I also tested positive for Carba mix, Cl + Me isothiazolinone, and Thimerosal.

Carba is an accelerator that is often used in the manufacturing of rubber products. This makes it incredibly difficult to trace down, as it is not a true "ingredient" and requires knowledge of specific manufacturing procedures. While the safest bet is to avoid all rubber products, this is proving to be quite difficult for me. Everything seems to have rubber in it. There is rubber on my steering wheel cover, rubber on the grips of 95% of the pens I own, rubber on my eyelash curler, rubber in my shoes... the list goes on and on.

Thimerosol is a mercury-based preservative that up until a few years ago was a common ingredient in many contact lens solutions (but more about that later). Luckily, it has been phased out of a lot of products. Thimerosol may still be found in some vaccines, ear/eye/nose medications, and antiseptic sprays. While it may make me think twice before getting a flu shot (I haven't had one in years because they always make me sick.) it looks like this one should be pretty easy to avoid.

Now my dermatologist seems to think the the substance most likely to be the cause of all my woes is the isothiazolinone... Ah, isothiazolinone... why must you taunt me? This little guy comes in many different forms and though the T.R.U.E Test only seems to look for methylisothiazolinone and chloromethylisothiazolinone, I think I'm going to just go ahead and avoid anything ending in isothiazolinone...

Ode to isothiazolinone

Goodbye to soap

Goodbye to shampoo

Goodbye to all of my favorite hair goo

Goodbye to lotion,

Goodbye to anti-aging face potion

Goodbye to sunscreen

Goodbye to cream

Goodbye to my entire beauty routine