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I have almost narrowed down the cause of this problem for me. I have had the red, swollen, itchy eyelid problem since February when I woke up with it on my birthday. I had been on prednisone since September for inflammatory arthritis. The week before this started, I had started taking Sulfa meds to replace the prednisone. I thought first it was a reaction to the Sulfa but the Rheumatologist assured me it wasn't. My primary care physician sent me to a Dermatologist and after trying steroid cream and Protopic which didn't work, I had patch tests done. I already knew I was allergic to nickel and cobalt from prior patch tests over 20 years ago, but found out I was also allergic to copper, chromium, and several other fragrance ingredients. My Derm doctor asked me if I have anything new in the house since February or if I started using any new products. After spending the last 3 months in agony and switching all cosmetics, detergents, hair products, etc. I was still having a terrible time with my skin above and below my eyes. The doctors kept blaming my makeup but I went without makeup for 8 days and it got worse every day......UNTIL I slept on the couch instead of my bed. The first morning , my eyes were 50% less swollen. By the 3rd day on the couch, they were back to normal. That was last week and they have stayed normal since....UNTIL last night when my son was sick so he needed the couch so I slept in my bed for a mere 4 hours and guess what? My eyelids are as red, swollen and itchy as the worst case I have ever had. I had gotten a new pillowtop bed with a metal headboard and footboard last October when I was taking 15mg of steroids a day and that masked the allergic reaction until February when I stopped the steroids. Unfortunately I can't just remove the headboard without removing the whole frame but that is the first step. I hope that is it but it could be something in the mattress itself (stain or water repellent?) or the mattress pad or sheets even. Or it could even be the products that my husband uses....although he insists I can not be allergic to him! All I know is there is something about my bed that is the cause of my problem. I hope this is the case for some of you too because I agree that this has totally decreased my quality of life. Before I discovered this, I was getting so desperate that I thought it was the anti-reflective coating on my glasses so I have an Oculoplastics appointment on Sept 11th for that. I read on the internet that AR coating is a vapor of metal oxides and with all of my metal allergies, it was worth checking into. I will update you after that appointment. I hope this helps some of you!

September 1, 2014 - 5:17pm

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