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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Could Itching Followed By Pink And Red Dots On Skin With Small Veins And White Bumps Due To Allergic Reaction To A Cream?

I recently used a new body cream that was strawberry flavoured and scented. I have hay fever but am only allergic to grass, London plane and silver birch (trees). I also get slight irritation and itchiness when I eat apples/peaches. I used the cream on my arms and they started itching a few hours later. I scratched my arm quite a lot and pink/red dots appeared? I can also see small veins around the area. Little whitish bumps have also appeared. The skin is red and itchy. It s not dry, though. What s wrong? What do I do? It s been like this since yesterday. Thanks
Wed, 29 Jan 2014
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Anesthesiologist,  's  Response
Hello,
I have gone through your query and understand your concern.
We call this Phenomenon as Triple response of lewis.
This is due to scratch on the skin.
You had scratched the skin due to itching.
In allergy, there is a increased release of a chemical called Histamine by Mast cells in our body.
This histamine can cause itching and thus you had scratched the skin.
This scratching lead to erythema ( redness) due to blood vessel dilation locally and increased permeability in blood vessels.
These may look like red and pink dots.
This is normal and it can disappear in 30 to 40 minutes, once the histamine is broken down into inactive chemicals.

However in more than half of the peoples with high dose of allergens, this may persist and lead to late phase reaction up to 24 hours to 48 hours and then disappears.
Thus nothing to worry about, you can wait up to 48 hours.
Please take antihistamines like cetrizine and mast cell stabilizers like montelukast.
This will help in further release of anti- histamines from mast cells.

Hope this helps.
Please write back for further queries.
Wishing you good health.
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Could Itching Followed By Pink And Red Dots On Skin With Small Veins And White Bumps Due To Allergic Reaction To A Cream?

Hello, I have gone through your query and understand your concern. We call this Phenomenon as Triple response of lewis. This is due to scratch on the skin. You had scratched the skin due to itching. In allergy, there is a increased release of a chemical called Histamine by Mast cells in our body. This histamine can cause itching and thus you had scratched the skin. This scratching lead to erythema ( redness) due to blood vessel dilation locally and increased permeability in blood vessels. These may look like red and pink dots. This is normal and it can disappear in 30 to 40 minutes, once the histamine is broken down into inactive chemicals. However in more than half of the peoples with high dose of allergens, this may persist and lead to late phase reaction up to 24 hours to 48 hours and then disappears. Thus nothing to worry about, you can wait up to 48 hours. Please take antihistamines like cetrizine and mast cell stabilizers like montelukast. This will help in further release of anti- histamines from mast cells. Hope this helps. Please write back for further queries. Wishing you good health.