Allergic Reaction

For the past few months, I have been suffering off and on from some pretty extreme skin problems.  It always starts off as an itchy, burning rash that is VERY red and very noticeable and after a few days my skin becomes very swollen, sometimes even my eyes swell up.  Then my skin gets really dry and flakey before it all heals up and goes away.  The strange thing is that I used to suffer from the same problem back in high school where my eyes would get severely swollen, to the point I couldn't open them.  I saw doctors, I saw an allergist for testing, no one could figure out what it was.  Then once I moved to Hawaii, I rarely had a problem with it.  I would maybe get a little bit of the rash every once in awhile, but definitely no swelling.  So I brushed it off as a phase of some kind.

Well, when I moved to NJ, as soon as the winter hit, I had my first major issues with it again!  I was SO shocked the first morning to wake up and find this horrendous rash on my face.  I've gone to the doctor a few times now, and the only thing he could tell me is that he was certain that it was an allergic reaction.  Thanks doc, could you tell me what you think I might be allergic to that they didn't already test me for?  So, he's decided to send me to another allergist for more unpleasant testing.

I'm getting ready to make my appointment tomorrow since my referral went through finally, but tonight, as I was getting ready for bed, I had a realization.  I had just washed my face and was putting my acne cream on a couple of zits that popped up because of my period and it dawned on me what I am probably allergic to.  Benzoyl Peroxide.  The main ingredient in almost every acne medication.  It makes SO much sense.  It even explains why I didn't have these problems in Hawaii or until the winter here.  I didn't use it in Hawaii because I didn't have acne in Hawaii.

Ever since I went off the pill, I've had more and more acne, so I've been using acne medicine like I did in high school.  It even explains why originally doctors thought it was a cyclical thing.  Because I used a LOT of benzoyl peroxide around my period to combat the breakouts.  And sure shit enough, I looked at the spots where I applied the cream a few minutes later, and I have splotches ALL over my face.  I always put it on right before I go to bed, so I never look at it later!  I'm hopeful that this really is what I'm allergic to because finding out what I'm allergic to was the most important thing because now I can avoid it altogether.  So cross your fingers that an allergist will be able to determine that without a doubt for me!