Hi everyone, i have been reading all of ure posts and to be honest im just totally confused. I suffer from prickly heat or so i think, but the wiered thing is ive had it every holiday ive ever been on untill two years ago i went to egypt the hottest country ive ever been to but didnt get it once, so i thought maybe i had grew out of it. But last year i went to Zante and had it the worst ive ever had, we were their two weeks and i literally could not leav the room, i was in so much pain it stung continuously, i couldnt sleep or stop thinking about it for more than 5 minutes. I was litterally covered all over my chest, arms, stomach back and legs. Towards the end of the holiday the rep noticed that he never saw me and told my mom to try natural yoghurt, this relieved the stinging but only for about an hour and i still couldnt go outside. I was taking antihistamine, hydroquarterzone cream everything and nothing helped. You have all been talking about tablets and suncream and sprays...but i dont no what i should go for
Can anyone help me?

I swear by a mix of antihistamine, wiping down with a small towel, and not lying on a hot damp towel, and spraying with Salcurra sun n tan, at least 20 mins before sunbathing. A high factor cream 30 + is essential for the first few days as well.

Hi everyone, i have been reading all of ure posts and to be honest im just totally confused. I suffer from prickly heat or so i think, but the wiered thing is ive had it every holiday ive ever been on untill two years ago i went to egypt the hottest country ive ever been to but didnt get it once, so i thought maybe i had grew out of it. But last year i went to Zante and had it the worst ive ever had, we were their two weeks and i literally could not leav the room, i was in so much pain it stung continuously, i couldnt sleep or stop thinking about it for more than 5 minutes. I was litterally covered all over my chest, arms, stomach back and legs. Towards the end of the holiday the rep noticed that he never saw me and told my mom to try natural yoghurt, this relieved the stinging but only for about an hour and i still couldnt go outside. I was taking antihistamine, hydroquarterzone cream everything and nothing helped. You have all been talking about tablets and suncream and sprays...but i dont no what i should go for
Can anyone help me?

it may be PMLE not prickly heat

maybe a trip to your GP when you next get it will determine

or you can check out pics of the rashes on google images

hi i never used to get prickly heat ever when i went on my holidays but my last few ive got it really bad even got it a few weeks ago at home when we had a spell of good weather!!!so ive started to get prepared for my holidays!!been taking antihistimines for last 3 weeks and got cooling srays for prickly heat..also i find that piz buin oil free is the best cream for me..which is hard to find lately..dnt know if they replacing it with the allergy one? but managed to get the last oil free one today from bodycare and for bargain price £4.99 Think everybodys skin is different so its what suits you personally and think as you get older your skin changes..well mine seems to have!!!

Hi there, my name is Natalie and I'm 22.
Until now, I've never had any issues with my skin reacting to the sun/heat negatively, I've even been blessed for having such calm skin.
Until last week, I'd never heard of pricky heat.
I used to go on sunbeds every now and then and never had a problem, but last week, I went on and I now have really bad prickly heat.

I think this is a combination of 2 things:
The fact that prior to the sunbed session, I had not been on one for well over a year.
The that the prior to the sunbed session, I had not exfoliated my body.

I have only come out in a rash of prickly heat on my feets, legs, arms and ears (and one little spot on my tum!) So hence why I believe I have prickly heat and not photomorphic light eruptiopn, which I read in this very forum occurs on the "trunk" of your body, so the torso. The majority of mine are on my limbs.

It's been a couple days now and the only thing I've done is rub Pond's Cold Cream on it which had made *some* of my rash go down, primarily on my legs but now the rashes on my joints (i.e. toes, knees and elbows) has gotten a lot worse and looks to be "spreading".

What's weird is that the rash is also on both sides of my hands, so even on my palm, which I think is a bit weird.

Semi-subconciously, I'd been scratching the rash on my toes and now they have turned into blisters
I've noted all your info on what products work best for combating it. I've ignored the information about holiday preparations as I never really go on holiday although I have bookmarked this page for future reference.

I've booked an emergency appointment with my doctors today at 5pm and have kitted out in a maxi dress so I can show my legs and my arms! I'm also going to try get hold of some aloe vera.

The itchiest part is on my left elbow, it horrible! And my hands are slowly becoming covered.

I went on the sunbeds on the 27th May 2011, it is exactly a week later and I'm still suffering. So much for my plans to go out tomorrow night!

I'll report back on what the doctors have advised and if any products mentioned work on me.

How did you get on Natalie ?
x

Well basically my comment is now void as I went to the doctor and he actually said I have erythema multiforme as a result of some medicine I was taking. Erythema multiforme is a very itchy rash that appear on the body as a result of not complying with some ingredients of medicine. There were tiny bumps at first, hence why I thought it was prickly heat but it just spread like a normal rash after, still raised and bumpy but not 'prickly' per se. I still have it now. It's hell at night time and is taking a long time to disappear.

However, some tips:

Before I went to the doctor, I went to my local health shop asking for help with my prickly heat and the lady suggested alongside some Aloe Vera lotion (lotion will soak in faster than gel) and some nettle leaf herbal liquid. Prickly heat is in the 'urtica' catergory and therefore must be treated "like for like" so that's why the lady suggested I take nettle leaf liquid as it's 'urtica doica'.

I can't say or not, if this worked for me as I eventually found out it is erythema multiforme but the above maybe something to consider and take on board
I'm sorry I can't help anymore!

Last summer , whilst on holiday in Spain, I developed a very annoying rash. It stayed with me for the whole 2 weeks and sometime after I returned home. I avoided sunbathing and kept covered as best I could during the holiday, but was somewhat puzzled as I`ve worked mostly outdoors for the past 40 years , in construction, with no rashes or anything worse than a little sunburn.
This week was a bit warmer than usual and after the first of the hot days my wife suggested that I use some sunscreen for the following days. Only my arms and face were exposed so I used the same sunscreen as we had used last year on holiday. The rash has returned to my arms, every bit that I applied the sunscreen, my hands are fine but I had washed them immediately, and my face has no reaction as was the case last year. I read this thread thinking that I may have prickly heat, or even ple, but I am more than convinced that I probably have an allergic reaction to the sunscreen.
I did a bit of googling and the product , which we have been using for years, has had a change to the ingredients. The sunscreen is made by PIZ Buin and apparently oxybenzone may be the problem.
A lot of similar complaints to mine, apparently.
So now it will be trial and error between now and our holiday in September, to find a suitable sunscreen, I may be wrong but it my opinion it`s the most obvious cause of my problem.
Any comments.

A couple of weeks ago, my eldest grandson had the same allergic reaction to Piz Buin, although he has used it before.

I`ve been up most of the night my arms feel as if they are on fire and the itch is unbeleivable. I`m trying witch hazel on one arm , which cools it down for a short time, and E45 on the other arm to see if it will kill the itch. I read the forum reviews on TA and there are around 7 pages of them not many positive. I`ve just gone through a lot of the reviews for Piz Buin on reviewcentre and it`s not good reading , out of 186 reviews most are describing similar symptoms to mine, notably since the Piz Buin formula was changed.
Lot of the victims have had to seek medical treatment, and as happened to me last summer the effects last for around 3 weeks. We don`t holiday until September so hopefully all will be well.

Hi, you might find that taking some Piriton tablets helps soothe the itch - you can buy it over the counter at pharmacies.

sM

Thank you SMa I bought some antihistemines yesterday and some alo vera gel, and cooling sprays. Cost me more than the Piz Buin. I`ve sent an email to Johnson and Johnson regarding this, it appears to be their products containing Helioplex that are the problem.

Im now wondering if the "prickly heat" I suffered with this holiday was in actual fact a reaction to piz buin Have never suffered prickly heat until this year when I had it really bad at on my arms and top of legs. I did have some hayfever/allergy tablets so took them and this really did help but it came out of nowhere and it look awful. I was using piz buin too, which I have used for several years with no problems, but it just seems a coincidence that several other people have suffered the same reaction.

It will be intereresting to see if they actually reply to you ayrshire

The Piz Buin we have has helioplex written on the front of the bottles below the factor number.

I'm a fan of lanacane powder. Does the job.

ive suffered for years but the last 3 years ive used piz buin oil free and ive hardly suffered at all, i also take beta carotene and vit c tablet every day for a few weeks before i go, my step mum swears by this

I have received a standard reply from Johnson and Johnson. Their advice is that I should see a doctor or dermatologist , who is a professional allergologist, and that I should be tested to see if I have an allergy to any of the ingredients. They also suggest that my symptoms may be an incompatibility reaction which clinically look like allergic reactions. They have also attached a questionaire and a request that I send them the sun products.
This would mean time off work, for which I don`t get paid , and I would probably be prescribed steroids, which I am not to keen on taking.
Reading further reviews of their products it appears that one victim is taking them to court.

Having just read through the most recent posts on the prickly heat thread, I'm a bit worried aobut what suncreams to take on hols. I've always sworn by Piz buin but have also used a couple of others over the years and have never suffered from prickly heat until Last year.

Whilst in Turkey last August I had an outbreak or prickly heat on the inside of one of my wrists which wasn't very pleasant. I was using Piz Buin and nivea. I've got my stock of creams ready for this year's holiday in Greece and it comprises of Piz buin allergy, Piz buin oil free, hawaian tropic, malibu and l'oreal but it seems that most suncreams have at least some people blaming them for prickly heat

Not sure whether I should invest in any alternatives.

Shirley i have only ever suffered from prickly heat when using oils , so for the last couple of hols always use a cream normally avon .....last year in crete we ran out of creams and i ended up buying more sun creams a hawaian tropic in a creamy/beige coloured bottle and didn't get on with it at all .this year i am taking all Solait sun creams which i haven't used before either