Acne Or Rash Like Problem Because Of Food Allergies?

[pandabear]

Hey, I'm 18 and for the past 6 months I have gradually developed this rash/acne like spots/blemishes only residing in my facial cheek area in clusters. I have no blemishes/spots on my forehead, nose, chin, or mouth area. I was diagnosed with a lot of food allergies (wheat, milk, eggs, sugar cane...) back in middle school. I was eating so much food i was allergic to the summer before my first year of college, and I noticed my cheeks were getting red and spots appeared. I also had horrible pain in my abdominal area, and passing out (i have hypoglycemia). I have been to numerous dermatologists that wanted to put me on accutane. I of course said no because that drug is dangerous in my opinion. I have been gluten free/dairy free on and off since middle school.. Recentally I have made my diet very strict. I have been gluten free/dairy free for about 3 weeks now. I am noticing that my skin is gradually clearing, and less passing out but i'm wondering if anyone has or had this similar problem?

[rosetapper23]

Since the average age of onset for Dermatitis Herpetiformis (the auto-immune skin disease that some celiacs suffer from) is 19-20, you are right to consider this possibility. My son and I both developed DH at the age of 19.

To have this disease, you need to ingest BOTH gluten and iodine. It's good that you've eliminated gluten, but you might try eliminating iodine for a while, too, because that might speed up the healing process. Iodine can be found in iodized salt (so check to make sure that you're using the non-iodized variety), salty foods (such as french fries and chips), fish, crustaceans, dairy foods, and asparagus.

By the way, if you DO have DH, then you DO have celiac disease, since only people with Celiac have DH. Plan to eat a gluten-free diet for the rest of your life....

Have you yet visited the forum on DH? If not, just scroll down there to take a peek--I think you'll read a lot of similar stories to your own.

[mommida]

Hi. I just turned 40 and for the first time in my life am having serious acne issues. This was like a rash on my chin and up around the sides of my mouth. I was really suspecting another food issue. Some one on here said that a ZINC defiency can cause acne issues. I went to the dermatologist (what a joke! wants to do laser therapy for my slight rosacea~ $250) Suggested Cetaphil facial wash and Tetracycline. I'm taking the Tetracycline for now because I can't handle turning 40 and having this "acne" issue. I am also taking a daily multivitamin with Zinc. It is clearing up. Almost gone with a little redness still and it has only been 2 and 1/2 weeks.

As a Celiac you should look at possible vitamin defiencies first when you are having new symptoms. Always watch your diet too. There have been some news reports about gluten free foods not being very supplemented. They might try and make the companies add vitamin, mineral and fiber to gluten-free food.

[eatmeat4good]

Hey, I'm 18 and for the past 6 months I have gradually developed this rash/acne like spots/blemishes only residing in my facial cheek area in clusters. I have no blemishes/spots on my forehead, nose, chin, or mouth area. I was diagnosed with a lot of food allergies (wheat, milk, eggs, sugar cane...) back in middle school. I was eating so much food i was allergic to the summer before my first year of college, and I noticed my cheeks were getting red and spots appeared. I also had horrible pain in my abdominal area, and passing out (i have hypoglycemia). I have been to numerous dermatologists that wanted to put me on accutane. I of course said no because that drug is dangerous in my opinion. I have been gluten free/dairy free on and off since middle school.. Recentally I have made my diet very strict. I have been gluten free/dairy free for about 3 weeks now. I am noticing that my skin is gradually clearing, and less passing out but i'm wondering if anyone has or had this similar problem?

I am 47. I had severe cystic acne (but really it was DH)as a teen - took Accutane. It worked but only temporarily. Took Tetracycline all my life since age 14. Then another round of Accutane in my 30's. The acne came back. At 40 I developed the classic weeping painful oozing rash of Dermatitis Herpetiformis. The dermatologists all called it Adult Acne...but it wasn't. This rash stayed for 7 years until I found this cite two months ago. I was treated for rosacea, acne, herpes, fungus, and multiple rounds of very strong antibiotics. Then I found this cite. I went gluten free and the rash is 90% healed and it has only been 2 months. Consider yourself lucky to have found out so very young. Your rash should heal if you follow the above advice. I can't count how many dermatologists I have seen. I didn't know to suspect food allergies. You should do very well if you stay gluten free. I wish you the best of luck.

[eatmeat4good]

Oops I said lucky, but the correct word is smart. You are a very smart girl to have figured all this out. It took me much longer.

[pandabear]

Thanks for the feedback!

I haven't tried avoiding iodine because I eat fish weekly. But that's interesting, I'll try avoiding it. I have been really good at avoiding gluten. It's really hard to be on a diet plan though. One of the foods thats really hard for me to consume is grains. I do eat brown rice. I can't have any breads unless its egg,dairy,wheat/gluten, yeast free. (wheat is +4 level of antibodies on my allergy diagnosis which is the highest level)

That's good it's clearing up! I haven't found a multivitamin that is substantial for me yet and is gluten free. Do you know of any good multivitamin brands? I think I do have an iron deficiency because I have slight color of purple under my eyes and tend to get lightheaded even after I eat. I have hypoglycemia so I eat every two hours but I still get dizzy on and off. I am probably deficient in a lot of vitamins because it's really hard to eat anything since i'm allergic to so many foods. Lately, I have been passing out a lot at work and in class. I've been to the ER so many times for that..:/

It's really amazing what food toxins can do to the body. I'm really glad my doctor recommended this site. Was your cystic acne symmetrical? I read something on this topic about DH being symmetrical. My cheek 'acne' is symmetrical in small red clusters. It's really relieving to watch it get smaller and smaller and hopefully disappear! But that's great to hear yours is almost completely gone! I researched so much about gluten intolerance and the body. Never really took action about it until the end of this year. Since I have been off gluten/wheat I no longer have pain in my stomach! It's great! I'm probably never going to go back to gluten because I don't want to feel that way ever again.

[gf-soph]

Just another idea too, is that the red patches may be rosacea. I have had this for a while, and it's much worse when I eat certain foods, like MSG and some proteins. I'm on a strict elimination diet at the moment, and the skin is generally better. My dr explained that for some people rosacea is linked to inflammation in the body.

I also had an acne-like rash on my back, very painful, and that was acutally folliculitis, an inflammation of the follicles. I was on low-dose antibiotice for that, I have stopped taking those and it hasn't come back. I got a slight patch when I ate some chocolate, and it's stabilised since I cut it back out.

So the common link for me is inflammation, and on the diet right now both skin conditions are much better. For me, they are 100% linked to foods, i just still have some work left to figure out which ones.