New to pompholyx, and hunting down my triggers: Caz’s story

I only came across the word pompholyx recently, and the moment I read about it I thought, that’s it, that’s what I’ve got. For a while I’d assumed it was a hogweed burn, but now I think it had been pompholyx all along.

It started on my left hand. Small blisters at first, and then one evening I scratched like mad and it blew up into big blisters. Not long after, my right hand started too. It was uncomfortable and painful, and my whole hand began to peel, with little bumps and blisters coming up all over.

My GP treated it with jellonet and bandages. A strong steroid cream has since calmed everything down, which is a relief. Now I’m trying to work out how to manage it so it doesn’t take over again.

I’ve been reading a lot about nickel and cobalt. What’s odd is that all this only started since I took up beekeeping, so I’m going through my kit to see what might be setting it off. I’ve even been wondering about the lids on my honey jars and whether there’s anything in them.

Someone mentioned there can be heavy metals in chocolate, which would break my heart if I had to give it up. For now I’m just watching what I come into contact with and hoping I can keep it under control.