About Topical Gluten

[lfij]

Very few celiacs are likely to have any reaction to topical gluten contact. In order for a gut reaction to occur, it is likely that direct contact with the gut lumen is required. Many people with celiac disease have everyday contact with gluten (for instance, bakers with celiac disease who have contact everyday with wheat flour), and do not have any reaction to it. However, there are, on rare occasion, people who have had an anaphylactoid response to gluten, and these people should avoid gluten in all forms. Also, topical gluten breathed into the upper airways may cause symptoms of allergic rhetinitis in rare instances. If there is a simple alternative to a shampoo, cosmetic, etc., you may want to use the non gluten containing product.

- this is from the FAQ on the side bar

i just thought this was interesting because in fact most people without DH don't react, even though it remains a personal choice. (i didn't post this to start a whole thing again, just to show what the offical celiac.com answer is apparently)(even though i think bakers inhale some and therefore digest it), even the people who wrote this site who on many things seem quite reliable sort of say both sides are right.

[jmd3]

If I have a cut, scrape, or bug bite and my skin is open, no matter how small, I DO!

I also can't be exposed to Gluten flours, it gets my asmtha started.

Everyone is completely different, sorry to disagree with you.

[Guest Doll]

If someone has allergies (specifically a gluten IgE allergy), then they can possibly react to topical gluten. Someone can have both Celiac Disease and a gluten allergy of course, but yes, this would be fairly rare. It happens though. Many people with asthma also have allergies.

I do not have a firm opinion on DH. Most research suggests that most with DH need to also ingest gluten like Celiacs to have a reaction (gluten needs to be absorbed though the leaky gut). Some people say that open DH sores react to gluten exposure. I cannot personally see how this would happen without an allergy in addition to DH, but I don't have enough info to discredit the idea either.

We are a lively bunch, huh?

[lovegrov]

Just personal experience, but I had DH for years and years and I don't react even the slightest bit to gluten on the skin. None. And you don't absorb it through your skin.

richard

[lfij]

Just personal experience, but I had DH for years and years and I don't react even the slightest bit to gluten on the skin. None. And you don't absorb it through your skin.

richard

i was really under the impression that you are, that, it has to hit your gut, i really doubt your skin absorbs things and it goes into your digestive tract. I think if it's just celiac, not an allergy on top of it, it works like you say.

[gfgypsyqueen]

Maye I am one of the lucky few...maybe I have a wheat allergy too...Maybe I am just hyper sensitive...who knows ...maybe I have some other new fun thing going on...BUT everytime I touch a gluten product, like bread, my hands break open and bleed. This has happened since I was first diagnosed with celiacs. My finger tips swell up and then burst along the cracks. These "skin splits" take forever to heal. And I have tested this. I never touch gluten. Then I make sandwiches handling the bread like a normal person and wahla fingers swell, split, bleed. Drives me crazy! And I do not have DH and so far I do not have any other food allergies.

So at this point, I go under the assumption that I have Celiacs and a contact allergy to wheat/gluten.