There are people for whom a normal shower can be a torment, warns La Vanguardia. Upon contact with water, they experience burning and itching, blisters appear. "This reaction is called 'aquagenic urticaria,'" explains columnist Rocio Navarro Macias.
Fortunately, this type of allergy is very rare. "There are only 40 cases in the literature," says Spanish allergist Francisco Feo Brito. "The mechanism of occurrence is unknown, but some suggest that the reaction is caused by antigens of the epidermis itself when dissolved in water," he notes, stressing that this hypothesis has not been proven.
An American student Alexandra Allen suffers from a water allergy. “The first time it happened was when I was 12 years old. On vacation in California, I swam in the pool, and at night I woke up covered in blisters. At first we thought I was allergic to pool chemicals and took a shower. We didn’t know it then, but the water made me worse,”Allen said in an interview with Science of Us.
Allergist Feo noted that the blisters persist for 15-90 minutes, and the remission phase occurs spontaneously. Urticaria spreads almost all over the body, but rarely appears on the palms and soles.
According to the newspaper, people with water allergies can lead normal lives. Feo advises taking antihistamines, using ultraviolet radiation, which has an anti-inflammatory effect, lubricating the skin with oil, and deliberately reducing sensitivity to the allergen. “To begin with, very little water is applied to the skin. Gradually, the dose is increased to increase the water tolerance,”says Feo.
Symptoms associated with water allergy can be a manifestation of a more common allergy called dermographism. “It manifests itself as bumps or blisters on the skin that occur when rubbing or scratching,” says Feo. The blisters last for about half an hour.