The Girl Who Was Allergic to Water
“Teenage Girl Allergic to Water.” Sounds like a pretty sensational headline. I mean, can someone really be allergic to water?
Yep, they can. In fact, the unfortunate few people who have this problem can actually risk their lives just by taking a shower.
The allergy is a rare condition called aquagenic urticaria. People who have it develop intensely itchy, even painful hives when their skin comes into contact with water. The itchy wheals or hives develop within minutes of exposure and can persist for hours afterward. 
Interestingly, any amount of water can trigger an attack. This means not only a dip in the pool or your morning shower, but also tears, sweat, and even saliva. In severe cases, it can trigger a life-threatening systemic reaction with difficulty breathing and swallowing.
Aquagenic urticaria can sometimes be prevented in these patients by coating their skin with petrolatum (plain vaseline) before exposure to water. It can also been treated with antihistamines such as Benedryl or Zyrtec.
Regular urticaria (hives), in contrast to the aquagenic type, are common. They usually present as very itchy, pink welts that make annular (circle-like) or figurate (number-like) shapes. The rash usually lasts for a few hours and in most people it is temporary. This can be quite difficult to treat and can be an almost unbearable plague for the victim.
Much to my frustration, there are many things that can trigger urticaria in patients, including:
- Medications
- Foods
- Food Additives (especially yellow food dye)
- Infections
- Emotional stress
- Menthol
- Some cancers
- Airborne elements (pollen, dust mites, aerosols, molds)
- Alcohol
Some urticarias are caused by physical triggers. They’re called physical urticaria (easy test answer). They include:
- Dermatographism - physical scratching of the skin that results in welts
- Cold urticaria - exposed areas of skin, such as hands and face develop hives in cold weather
- Heat urticaria - occurs within 5 minutes of exposer to high temperatures
- Solar urticaria - caused by sunlight
- Pressure urticaria - hives result 3 to 12 hours after prolonged pressure on the skin
- Exercise urticaria - hives develop 5 to 30 minutes after beginning exercise
- Vibratory urticaria - just like it sounds.
- And lastly, aquagenic urticaria
You might also like: Toasted Skin Syndrome
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Intriguing. I assume that these folks can drink water, they just can’t get it on their skin? I’ve not taken any kind of histology, but what makes the skin different from the endothelial tissues that line the circulatory system?
Wow. Have never heard of that.
This gives me a flashback to my second pregancy, when, for 1 night at work (worked 11pm-7am), I developed hives when I came into contact with Ultrasonic gel. Very problematic for an OB nurse!
When my OB came in to make rounds at 7am, I told him about it. He expressed a mild disbelief, so I took a small amount of the gel, put it on my arm then immediately wiped it off. Lovely, lovely wheal arose instantly. But it went away after that night and never happened again.
It was weird. Have you ever encountered something like that?
Dawn-
I cannot say I’ve seen urticaria to gel yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me. It also doesn’t surprise me that it happened when you were pregnant and never recurred. Pregnancy can do remarkable things to your immune system.
Thanks for stopping by.
RJS-
Good question. Your skin and immune system are inextricably linked. Your skin’s immune system is set up specifically to find and attack threats in your skin. As you would guess, these threats are different from those that contact your endothelial tissues; the immune system is set up differently there. Although there are similarities, (you can see overlap of many skin diseases in the mouth for example) there are enough differences such that things like aquagenic urticaria is limited to the skin.
when i get wet for 15ish minutes in salt water/sweat and usually more then 30 minutes in fresh/tap i develop hives or a rash. it does not seem to be from any added chemical because i get it from salt water, rain and tap water. strangely my dad also has the same thing, i only got this as i started puberty as did my dad. no one believes me when i tell them because i dont get the reaction very quickly so usually cant show them. Ive never bothered with checking with my doctor because when my dad did this as a kid the doctor told him as long as it’s not doing any long term harm he should be fine. also my emotions seem to change the reaction time, as i usually will not get a reaction in my short showers except when i am tired, sad or angry
I personally suffer from aquagenic urticaria and have done for a very long time. It is very frustrating and debilitating condition. I have seen the best in the field in my area and researched non stop. Antihistamines do not work. I was taking multiple tablets and multiple combinations of drugs in desperation to relieve the symptoms. The best solution for me to date is a daily dose of predisalone. 25 is the ideal to remove any reaction (for me) however as a long term drug I have researched it is not ideal to take, plus the advice from doctors supports my findings. This condition is very painful, frustrating and it does impact your family life and social life immensely. The only way I can describe the symptoms I feel is: Imagine a bull ant bite and the sting and after effect it leaves. Now multiply that my about 100,000 bites aver your back, legs, shoulders and arms all at the same time also it lasting up to 60 minutes. . No amount of rubbing or itching removes the pain. The strangest thing is though. Afterwards on the occasion that I have a very severe case, I feel drugged and very drained, like I just ran a few miles. If I had a choice between winning to lotto or a cure for this condition. The price to pay for relief would be priceless. For anyone else reading this and having the same condition. If you have a therapy even if it “weird” please post it I will try it.
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Wow! This post has totally explained something I’m going through. Thank you for the information.
My skin breaks out into little bumps (rash/ hives) that slowly turn itchy over a couple of days. This is usually after I have had some sun/ heat exposure. I live in the tropics so there’s no escaping it.
I developed this almost 4 years ago when post-pregnancy, I fell sick with a very bad flu and was under a lot of stress because I had a lot of fieldwork at the time.
Would that have been a trigger of sorts?
I’ve been to a dermatologist who really didn’t seem to take my explanation seriously and suggested that I go back to take allergy tests but I didn’t.
But now at least I don’t feel so dumb.
Thank you.
Hi,
I think I suffered this at the beach today. I am 42 and have enjoyed swimming in the sea all my life. Today however was a different story. After a short swim my hand felt like I had chillblanes: the skin was tight and hard and tingling. After a longer period in the water I had to get out: my whole body was red with small welts, similar to your photo above. I showered in cold fresh water and the rash began to ease. Within about an hour my skin was back to normal, though I felt totally drained for about two hours afterwards. Just after the shower I felt like it was hard to breathe, though I put this down to psychsomatic rather than real: hard to know though.Then I started to regain some energy.
Does this sound like aquagenic urticaria? Is it more serious than just the discomfort? Is thewr anything that can be done? What are the chabnces that is was just a one off? and finally, is it worth seeing a doctor about?
Regards
Craig
reply to Craig.
It sounds like there may have been something in the water that day that made u react, u could try swimming in the ocean in a different area to check this maybe. every person’s reaction i have heard about is different. it seems strange that u would get this in sea water but not in fresh water, specially after 42 years without a reaction.
I suffer from chronic urticaria that’s triggered by methyl and methane byproducts, topical contact with my own body fluids… yup you read correctly .. excercise, eucalyptus.. running water of any temperature or latitude across my feet causes severe pain, sweating, crying (its the worst, it burns my face and causes extreme pain for days), aerosols, the scent of gasoline mineral/baby oil…. Salivating during my sleeping hours typically causes me to wake up with severely swollen lips and my eyes swollen all but shut. The swelling typically recedes in a few hours but if the hives start… ack! My last bout with them lasted almost 4 solid months. I also have adrenal suppression so the typical prednisone relief is out of the question. I take typically hydroxyzine hydrochloride as an antihistimine and during severe flareups a 1-3 month treatment of cyclosporine.
This is a very real condition and can be both quite physically and emotionally exhausting.
I have that.! It started almost two or three years ago and now i can not go swimming or even touch the dew on the grass with out my whole entire body breaking out with in 10 minutes.! i thought i was the only one because all my doctors said i was full of it even when i brought in pictures and poured lake water on my arm [then the hives appeared]. Im going to try that Benadryl and vasiline thing. you dont know how happy i am that someone actually knows whats keeps happening to me and can actually explain it too.! thank you so much.!
[...] Could you possibly taking to warm of a shower/bath…it happens to me if I use water that is to hot. I have really sensitive skin and can not use a lot of different products. Are you sensitive to all types of water, pool, river, ocean etc….or is it just from your water from the house? Also you may want to try a water softner. I would also recommend going to see a dermatologist instead of a md if you haven’t already. Take some pictures of your skin after your shower, that will at least give them an idea of what it does to your skin. I have seen a skin condition on some of the talk shows of peple being allergic to water…but normally it causes blistering to different degrees. I think this is it?The Girl Who was Allergic to Water | The Derm Blog [...]
Very interesting article for me as I think I may have this condition. Ever since I was around 10 years old I began getting very strange rashes when exposed to freshwater for more than 30 or so minutes, depending on the heat and whether it was from a faucet or a natural source. They look exactly like the ones in the photo at the top of the article and are extremely itchy. I get them occasionally when I sweat and do not have the air flow through my clothing to keep my skin dry enough. Places like my back, legs, arms stomach and *cough* butt are the main areas of effect. I used to go hiking when I was younger and sometimes the itch would be so bad I couldn’t sleep. I would say that it affects areas with more pores and less access to open air. Luckily for me once I dry out the itching subsides in roughly an hour and the welts are gone in another hour. Thanks for the info!
I never thought i’d find anything that explained this. My 12 year old daughter has been on the city swim team for 5 years. This is the first season we decided to take a break. She never showed any sign of this before. We took her to the river about a month ago and she developed the rash and hives. It went away and we didn’t think of it until a week later when on vacation at a water park it happened again. Seemed kind of weird since river water and pool water are not similar in any way. Then again at her friends pool, and as of this weekend at the ocean. She is severely allergic to sulfa drugs and penicilan. We always have an epi pen with us. She is also allergic to lots of bug sprays, developes the same rash. I am not going to wait to take her to the doctor now. She definately has something. I am curious now as to whether there is allergy testing for this because she is so alergic to the sulfa and penicillin that we’ve been told she will most likely go into cardic arrest if she ever had it again. I now worry the same could happen in the water. This certinly leaves me with just as may questions, even though i have some answers.