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Skin Care Products for Dermatographism Skin Condition
by Anonymous
(Hanover, Virginia)
On the last day of school of her fifth grade year, my daughter had a black spot on her hand. For some reason I worried a lot about it, even though she seemed fine. I kept trying to tell myself that it was just a mark from a permanent marker, but I googled images of "black spot on skin" and scared myself silly. When I left for work the next morning, I told my mother to keep an eye on that spot. Unbeknown to me, my mother took her directly to the doctor. When my daughter had woken up, her face was very swollen. Over the next week, she visited the doctor twice more, went to the emergency room, and had appointments made with specialists. A rash began to spread - beginning at the black spot, which eventually took over her entire body. Her skin was swollen, splotchy pink and red, and radiated heat. She kept a wet towel on her face all day long. She was put on six medications around the clock and slowly (over 3 months) got better.
Only 2 causes were ever put forward - a systemic reaction to a particular poisonous plant or a brown recluse bite (there was a hole under the black skin). The doctor then said, "Notice this?" and drew a line across my daughter's back. Both of us were very familiar with this as we used to draw on each other. I had thought everyone could write on their skin until that time. The doctor explained that her skin is hyper reactive because of this.
As she has gotten older, she has acquired several allergies which always manifest in the skin from random contact with items. The first allergy to show up was to nickel. She's had a run in with several others now, and the latest allergy is to our little chihuahua.
My mother loves to buy skin care products and she can't stand how limited my daughter's skin care choices are. I tell her, she can only wash her face with water, but my mom keeps trying to get something gentle. Almost everything she buys burns my daughter's skin.
At least for us, dermographic skin means being itchy a lot. For me it means I get hives along the seams of some clothing and if I rub my hands together. My skin "grabs" ink and occasionally it feels like a chemical burn when I touch my face with my hands. For my daughter it seems to mean - all allergies are in the skin and facial products, especially creams, burn.
Here's one thing that doesn't burn us, but other people don't like it much - products containing sulfur. These don't burn and they clear our skin. Go figure!
