Allergic reaction

[***Sookie***]

Hi
I am posting this as a consumer, although I am qualified to perform facials myself, I haven't come across this before.

Basically on Sunday I had a decleor facial at, what I consider to be, a very respectable spa near me, the same one I had 2 years ago with no problem.

Later on that day I was still blotchy from the facial, not unusual for my pale skin, and a bit itchy under my chin.

Unfortunately this got worse by the evening and I could see I was having a reaction as my face was red and blotchy and irritated. I popped an antihistamine and some gentle natural facial oil to try and calm my skin and went to bed.

Monday morning and my skin was terrible. Covered in hives, raised bumps for pretty much every pore on my face, itching like crazy and I felt run down and pretty ugly too. I've continued with the anti histamine and used only la roche posay cicaplast baume b5 to try and heal my skin but my pharmacist has advised that once you get a reaction, it will take a few days to go down.

My questions are, now I have had a reaction, will I be more likely to suffer again? I have emailed the spa asking for a product list to try and decipher what it could have been.

I use retin-a, which I did highlight to my therapist, and said that due to that, my skin is a bit more sensitive than normal. I felt that the therapist could have been more gentle, used dry cotton wool etc, lots of pulling, could that have set off a reaction?

I'm not blaming anyone as I understand that allergies can just happen, but I am keen not to feel/look like this ever again!

 

[Lynne Baker]

I suspect that you are sensitive to the essential oils in Decleor.
I doubt it will be the techniques used.

 

[squidgernetball]

The problem with an allergy, as I'm sure you know, is that it could be literally anything. I had a treatment and the therapist used Thalgo which I used at the time. It was a home salon. She had a cat. I can only guess she had stroked her cat and not washed her hands properly as my face erupted in the way it does if I stroke a cat and touch my face. Had I not known that, I would have put it down to the products.

Were you using Retin A when you last had a facial 2 years ago? There is no easy answer. I hope your skin has calmed, but in the future I wouldn't use Retin A after any kind of reaction (I know that you may not have done this). It is a long haul to find out what could have caused it, and maybe a Decleor geek will have some suggestions (Martin????) as to what would be the most probable cause.
Having been on high levels of Vitamin A for some time now, I am very cautious as to what I use!

Hope that has helped!

Vicki x

 

[***Sookie***]

No I wasn't on the retin a last time and I'm pretty sure it's what has made my skin susceptible. I also wondered if it could have been the essential oils, although I use balance me and espa products frequently that are quite essential oil heavy.

My skin is still terrible, the redness has gone down but I'm left with a combination of dry skin and tiny bumps all over my face. It feels like sun burn crossed with milia.

I'll be interested to see what the product list is and see if anything jumps out as alien to me!

Is there a chance the bumps won't go away?

 

[squidgernetball]

Are you back on the Retin A? If your skin is vulnerable it could be a retinoid reaction!
V

 

[***Sookie***]

Hi
No no! I've steered clear of everything that could make it worse, haven't used the retin a since before the facial, only stuck to the cicaplast and used cetaphil to cleanse.

Thank you for your responses, it's a relief just to a)vent without worrying people think I'm being vain and b) check that there isn't some instant relief that I'm not aware of.

I've been told that it's not that bad really compared to some people but to me, I feel terrible and like I want to crawl under a rock!

 

[Spa Therapist]

You poor thing, it's not nice to have a reaction anywhere, particularly on your face. I can't see any way that pulling the skin or using dry cotton wool could cause hives as they are usually caused by a histamine reaction.

I think you are right to use a very basic skincare routine for the time being, as apparently when your skin is reacting you can also become sensitive to anything you apply to it.

I'm terrible with allergies but mainly respiratory ones. You could perhaps pop in and ask for a patch test if you wanted to try another facial?