Why do you get red blotchy patches on your chest back neck and face after any contact with water bath shower swimming or even in the rain definitely not the gels or soaps plain water affects you?

Answer 1

It may be you have left-over effects of another type of water-spurred allergy.

see: http://dermnetnz.org/arthropods/sea-bathers.html

and

http://dermnetnz.org/dermatitis/plants/seaweed.html

also:

http://www.cdc.gov/Ncidod/dpd/parasites/cercarialdermatitis/factsht_cercarialdermatitis.htm

Or it may be some odd allergic reaction to pollen stimulated by temperature changes and pressure...

I have developed an odd, recurring rash that only appears after prolonged exposure to water in NY state. It appears predominately on my ventral skin surfaces but also appears anywhere pressure is applied. In reading about the three common causes: seaweed, larvae from infected birds/snails, and tiny jellyfish, my symptoms seem to match most closely to the jellyfish. It most often plagues me when I venture into cold salt water -specifically Long Beach on Long Island. I have also had other occurrences when swimming in a freshwater outdoor pool and to a mutch reduced extent in FL. Even, when taking a shower at home in NYC!

My original thought was it was caused by detergent, then by pollen. If others have such occurrences specifically near NYC, I would be interested to hear of it as it could conceivably be toxins of a man-made sort in the air or water and I may be a kind of canary in a coal mine.

The unique thing about my reaction is it happens within minutes of exiting the water as I begin to dry and after intense burning with little red spots becoming pimples and then puffy often connected blisters, fades away after a few hours. This is unlike mosty of the descriptions I have seen of the 'standard' causes of rashes as they are said to last days even weeks, from what I can grok. HTH.

The saddest part is I love to swim!