We all strive to have the perfect skin free of bumps and lumps; however, some people have more problems in that area than others. When you’re suffering from allergies and intolerances, it often causes symptoms that can result in hives and spots on your skin, ruining it for a few days or weeks.
Your body’s contact with that substance triggers your immune system when you have an allergy. Each day, you’re exposed to thousands of substances and items that could cause a reaction in your body. However, most of these items don’t cause any issues.
Allergens are substances that the body thinks are “harmful” even though they typically aren’t. Allergens trigger an allergic reaction, leading to various body symptoms like breathing difficulties, runny nose, coughing, and burning eyes. Allergic reactions can also cause changes in the skin, like eczema, hives, and itchy skin rash.
It is also common for food intolerances to cause gastrointestinal symptoms like bloating, diarrhoea, or IBS. Besides gut symptoms, intolerances can also result in inflammatory symptoms like eczema and acne.
Can food intolerances cause skin problems?
While it is a common belief that food intolerances only affect the gut, they also do a lot more by causing inflammatory symptoms on the skin. Food intolerances can occur with any food, even though the most common is gluten or dairy. Diagnosing the culprit without an Intolerance Test regarding food intolerances can be challenging.
If you need to know whether you’re suffering from food intolerance, you might witness symptoms like brain fog, bloating, low mood, IBS, headaches, joint pain, and eczema or acne. You need to take an Intolerance Test to avoid these symptoms and specific skin issues like eczema and acne.
An intolerance test will help you navigate which foods are causing these inflammations in your body so that you can eliminate them from your diet. Removing foods that cause intolerance symptoms means your skin health will improve, returning to how it is supposed to be when it isn’t experiencing inflammation.
If you need these foods in your diet, with the help of your doctor, you can go on an elimination diet; then, they can help you reintroduce the food slowly into your body while building up your tolerance to that food. With time, you will have more tolerance, and you can consume more of those specific foods.
Can allergies cause skin problems?
Allergies do often cause skin problems. When you consume something you’re allergic to, the body produces histamines to protect itself against harm. Unfortunately, histamines then cause itching, swelling, and even hives. Often, hives as an allergy symptom are caused by allergens like pollen, animal dander, medications, food, and insect bites.
Contact dermatitis, or allergic eczema, is another symptom when you come in contact with an allergen. Unlike hives, allergic eczema is often a delayed reaction, which means you’ll experience these symptoms between 24 and 48 hours after coming in contact with the allergen. This can often make it difficult to remember exactly what could have caused the reaction.
Skin conditions related to allergies and intolerances
There are specific skin conditions that are often a result of allergies and intolerances. These include:
Allergic eczema
A person with eczema on their arm
Allergic eczema is a skin rash often itchy and develops when exposed to an allergen that has triggered an allergic reaction. Unlike most allergy symptoms that often come immediately or within 2 hours at least, allergic eczema is a delayed reaction that happens between 24 hours to 48 hours after initial exposure to an allergen.
Certain triggers commonly lead to allergic eczema. These include:
- Nickel
- Latex
- Clothing and hair dye
- Soaps and cleaning products
- Adhesives
- Poison ivy
- Antibiotic cream or other ointments put on the skin
Sometimes, allergic eczema also develops when you expose your skin to chemicals in the sun. Allergic eczema symptoms vary from one person to the next. It is also rare but possible for the symptoms to spread to other body parts. Common allergic eczema symptoms include:
- Red bumps which may ooze, crust, or drain
- Itchiness
- A burning sensation
- Inflammation
- Scaly, raw, or thickened skin
- Dry, red, rough skin
- Warm, tender skin
It is common to associate allergic eczema with allergies, especially when it comes hand in hand with other allergy symptoms. However, there are other substances and reasons why you may develop eczema. That’s why we recommend you take an Allergy Test. once you’re sure which allergies you have, you can avoid those substances and keep allergic eczema away.
Allergies and hives
Hives are part of allergy symptoms to something you’re allergic to. Medications, food, animal dander, pollen, and insect bites often cause hives. Besides allergies, hives can also result from stress, tight clothes, exercise, infections, or illnesses. You can also develop hives when exposed to either hot or cold temperatures or irritation due to excessive sweating.
Since hives have many triggers, it’s often hard to diagnose them. If you repeatedly have hives, it’s easy for you to have recurring situations that develop hives all over your body. Also, when you eat food you’re allergic to or exposed to allergens in the air, like pollen, you’re likely to develop hives.
If you still need to figure out what hives look like, they’re welts on your skin. They can be red, but sometimes they take on the colour of your skin. They can be small, round ring shape or large and take any shape. They’re very itchy and appear in batches on the skin, especially on the affected area.
The good news about hives is that they don’t last for long. If you experience individual hives, they often last between half a day to two days. During the outbreak, they can appear and disappear, and when pressed, they turn white. They can appear anywhere in your body. If you experience hives on your tongue or throat and have trouble breathing, it’s wise to call emergency medical services.
The allergens that often cause hives include:
- Pet dander
- Pollen
- Food (common ones include milk, eggs, and nuts)
- Dust mites
- Insect bites
- Medications (like antibiotics or cancer drugs)
If you often have hives following eating a particular meal or coming in contact with any of the above allergens, taking an Allergy Test will help you know exactly what your body is warning you to avoid. By avoiding your triggers, you will maintain your healthy skin.
Intolerance-induced acne
The root cause of acne is still a mystery. However, certain factors trigger them. These include genes, hormones, stress, and diet. Stress leads to the overproduction of specific hormones, which results in acne. However, factors like genes aren’t something we can control. But if you don’t grow up experiencing acne but notice it comes and goes depending on your diet, then this could mean there’s something you need to change.
In the teenage years, acne is a common occurrence for many kids. However, when you have breakouts here and there as an adult, your diet may have something to do with it.
Our Intolerance Test
Even though food intolerances affect the gut resulting in IBS-like symptoms, they also do affect the skin, causing acne. Food intolerances occur when your body reacts to specific proteins present in your food or lacks specific chemicals required to break down these foods.
When this happens, the food you consume doesn’t get digested and is pushed to the colon, where it ferments, producing gas, resulting in bloating and gassiness. Later on, you’ll also experience diarrhoea. To know whether you have a food intolerance, you’ll notice that ance is accompanied by symptoms like IBS, brain fog, fatigue, joint pain, headaches, and low mood.
Getting to the bottom of intolerance can help you prevent those nasty symptoms and promote your skin’s health. We all experience intolerance to various foods, even the ones that seem highly unlikely. You can get an Intolerance Test which checks for a vast number of intolerances that you may be experiencing. Having this knowledge helps you eliminate these items and live symptoms-free.
Final thoughts on how allergies and intolerances can damage your skin
Even though allergies and intolerances can cause damage to your skin, the power is still in your hands. With the power of an Allergy and Intolerance Test, you can easily understand what your body is fighting and get it from your skincare routine or diet. Take control of your health using these test kits.
