Pompholyx - Solved

I've had Pompholyx (also known as Dyshidrosis) since I can remember. When I was small I had it on hands and feet, while since my twenties only on my hands.

I was given cortisone to treat it, which temporarily solved the problem, however it lost efficacy quite quickly.

Around 33-34 years of age, the Pompholyx reactions became much stronger and started itching, which made me very uncomfortable.

I therefore started looking for a solution by reading forums and visiting specialists.

Eventually, through some trial and error I discovered that I got Pompholyx when eating onions (or other members of the onion family, such as garlic or leek).

This was difficult to piece together. My biggest hint is that I always had trouble digesting onions (raw onions would make me burp for days).

Unusually, I did not appear allergic to onions based on an allergy test (the one where they prick your skin) or a blood test checking for allergens. Also what made it difficult to diagnose is the fact that the Pompholyx only starts appearing approximately two days after I have eaten onions. Once the Pompholyx appears, it takes two weeks to go away, and about one month for the skin to heal completely.

Even more difficult to diagnose is the fact that the reaction is weaker if I eat onions on consecutive days. i.e. the first time I eat onion, the reaction is very strong, however the additional impact of eating it is smaller.

My diet included cooked onion and or garlic on a nearly daily basis, making it quite hard to figure out the culprit!

I also noticed that if I put vaseline on my hands, it heals much more quickly, as I guess the injured skin is protected from the outside elements (I am also allergic to dust mites).

I discovered all this a few months ago. Since then, I worked out that if I take an anti-histamin (I use a generic form of loratadine) when I eat onions, then the Pompholyx reaction does not appear.

I therefore formulated the theory that my stomach/intestines suffer some auto-immune reaction when I eat onions, and as a result release some chemical (histamine?) in the bloodstream. This chemical leads to Pompholyx on my hands. The Pompholyx is therefore the body’s signal that something (most likely in the environment or being ingested) is harming it in some way. So rather than fight the Pompholyx, you need to find the cause and solve it.

I still get Pompholyx, just because I eat out at restaurants frequently and they always use onions. However it is much more manageable because I consume substantially fewer onions now, and also take anti-histamines (when I remember to take them with me). I also know the cause of it, which makes it psychologically much easier to live with.

I should also add that based on a blood test I found that I am slightly gluten intolerant. At first I disbelived this result, however with some testing I found that if I eat large doses of gluten foods in a day (bread+pasta), I also get an allergic reaction on my hands, different from Pompholyx, as I get itchy thin long scabs on the back of my fingers. I have now also reduced/eliminated gluten, and again no longer have this problem.

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