terrible adhesive allergy, possible iodine allergy connection?

beccasmama

New member
My daughter has terrible reactions (not just a little redness...I mean blistering, weeping) to the tegaderm and adhesives associated with the tune ups and PICC line. She also broke out all over her chest last year in what I think was an allergic reaction to the cleaning agent they used for appendectomy, possibly betadine? Iodine? Does anyone know if there is a link? Please, does anybody have any helpful advice, new products, ANY input on this? Tune up is coming, and we are nervous. Thank you for your help.
 

jaimers

Super Moderator
I don't have a severe reaction like your daughters but tegaderm does irritate my skin. I've used alternatives like Sorbaview and OpSite 3000 before. Unfortunately my current hospital doesn't have an alternative to tegaderm so I just tough it out. Another tegaderm alternative I saw mentioned on the thread posted below is called Vecafix. Maybe some combination of skin prep, no sting barrier and one of these dressings will resolve this for her. Also a home health company might Have some of some of these alternative dressings more readily available so perhaps she can do her course of IVs at home and be supplied through home health with something that doesn't cause such a bad reaction. I imagine that would just add an additional level of trauma to a situation that may already be traumatic.
Ive linked to the different dressings below. Best of luck!

http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/allergic-to-tegaderm-350321.html

http://www.sorbaviewshield.com

http://www.smith-nephew.com/professional/products/advanced-wound-management/iv3000/

Edited: after Doing some research it looks like Vecafix may only be available in the UK...
 

beccasmama

New member
reply

I don't have a severe reaction like your daughters but tegaderm does irritate my skin. I've used alternatives like Sorbaview and OpSite 3000 before. Unfortunately my current hospital doesn't have an alternative to tegaderm so I just tough it out. Another tegaderm alternative I saw mentioned on the thread posted below is called Vecafix. Maybe some combination of skin prep, no sting barrier and one of these dressings will resolve this for her. Also a home health company might Have some of some of these alternative dressings more readily available so perhaps she can do her course of IVs at home and be supplied through home health with something that doesn't cause such a bad reaction. I imagine that would just add an additional level of trauma to a situation that may already be traumatic.
Ive linked to the different dressings below. Best of luck!

http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/allergic-to-tegaderm-350321.html

http://www.sorbaviewshield.com

http://www.smith-nephew.com/professional/products/advanced-wound-management/iv3000/

Edited: after Doing some research it looks like Vecafix may only be available in the
 

nmw0615

New member
I don't have a reaction to the tegaderm, aside from some irritation after a couple weeks, but I do have awful reactions to other components of my port dressing. They used to use something called a biopatch around the port needles, and they used them around my PICC when I had one of those. I had absolutely terrible reactions. Itchy, then I'd get a rash which would turn into sores, which would pop and then I'd have puss around my lines. As long as I don't use a biopatch, my accessed area is mostly free of irritation.

I'd also agree with the above poster on asking your home health company if they have any other choices. My home care nurse introduced me to a couple different kinds of covers, and we've found that using a different cover with each dressing change reduces a lot of irritation.
 
K

kenna2

Guest
I have an allergic reaction to the Chloraprep that they use to clean the site before. It causes the same reactions your daughter has. I have asked that they use betadyne instead and I no longer have that issue. To be clear, the betadyne is the stuff that looks orange. Also, stay away from Biopatches. They are finding that those are good at retaining fluid and causing infection to IV sites.
 
T

ToriMom

Guest
My daughter has had the same problem with the Chloroprep. We no longer use that cleaner for dressing changes. We get alcohol and the Orange tinted swabs (Betadyne?). We also only use IV 3000 for the dressing. This has helped her tremendously. She gets itchy and then sores that take a long time to heal otherwise. Our home health company gets them for us. We just finished a PICC line tune up and her arm was fine.
Hope this helps!

Michelle (mom to Victoria, 14, CF, gtube, sweetie)
:)
 
B

Beaz

Guest
We use Sorbaview and lots of Cavilon skin prep under the dressing.
Good luck with this frustrating and painful problem!
 

kosdancer

Member
As others have said, this sounds like a classic chloraprep allergy. Use betadyne and don't use bio patches as others have said but it's because they have chloraprep embedded in them. The only dressing I'm not allergic to is sorbaview - we tried several bandages while I had the blistering rash that I developed new allergies. I wish they wouldn't use chloraprep. It's not designed to be used with picc lines. Good luck!
 

beccasmama

New member
Kosdancer, it sounds like you've dealt with this a lot...In your opinion, or do you know, is the chloraprep typically used for most surgeries? It surprised me when she broke out all over, in an unrelated surgery issue. (Appendectomy)
As others have said, this sounds like a classic chloraprep allergy. Use betadyne and don't use bio patches as others have said but it's because they have chloraprep embedded in them. The only dressing I'm not allergic to is sorbaview - we tried several bandages while I had the blistering rash that I developed new allergies. I wish they wouldn't use chloraprep. It's not designed to be used with picc lines. Good luck!
 

MomD

New member
My daughter also had terrible skin reactions which made clean-outs very uncomfortable. We did all kinds of allergy testing on her for the topical solutions used such as beta dine, iodine, alcohol, etc. We determined it was a contact allergy/eczema from the cheap dressings that hospitals used. We found that using a hypoallergenic dressing with the brand names Mefix and Mepore were helpful in keeping the allergic skin reaction down to a minimum and the itch under control. We also used topical Benadryl during the day and oral Benadryl at night. We purchased a box of 60 Mepore self-adhesive bandages ($21.00) and a box of Mefix self adhesive tape ($11.00) on Amazon and keep it on hand for each clean-out.
 

kosdancer

Member
beccasmama yes I have been dealing with this for 5-6 years now so I have done a lot of research! Yes, it is very commonly used in surgeries so make sure to always mention it. When I had surgery last year they wanted me to bathe in it the night before.
 

LittleLab4CF

Super Moderator
Just a quick note,

I looked up the MSDS or Materials Safety Data Sheet for Tegaderm dressings. Most tape adhesive is acrylic of some variety. Tegaderm's MSDS describes a trade secret form of acrylic, I assume is their adhesive. The reason I'm not exactly certain is they don't say which material is doing what function, but a sheet of acrylic in a bandage sounds odd but not impossible. They list a silicone polymer that like acrylic could be sheet or adhesive. Silicone can breathe in certain forms.

They do note that a mild reddening of the skin is not uncommon. It seems that is what most people complain about. Acrylic plastic, especially tape adhesive is a common culprit in the allergy list. Silicone's are inert in most cases. If the average person were to pop a piece of acrylic plastic in their mouth, say the size of a dime, it will begin to irritate the corners of the mouth and other places where we have a little tender or cracked skin or mucosa is exposed. It tastes bad, it burns a little and irritates easily. This is Plexiglas, the magic plastic of (older) jet fighter canopy's that regular bullets bounce off of!

Since the rash is appearing all over, wherever a bandage is used, I'd see if they can use products without acrylic adhesive. Silicone adhesives are better but also not 100% perfect. Unfortunately, we can develop an allergy to nearly anything. The other products used in cleaning the wound, the tubing itself in the PICC line, and so forth.

I wonder if an allergy specialist might bring a faster and more definite answer to exactly which component(s) are causing problems. We associate allergies with breathing allergies but a systemic allergy should fall into the same basket. Certainly they know how to isolate the culprit quickly and without doubt as to what is causing a reaction.

Best luck

LL
 

kosdancer

Member
LittleLab - Tegaderm can certainly cause a mild rash (and does, for me, within a few hours) but what beccasmama is describing really sounds like a classic chloraprep rash. I've seen many patients talking about it over the years - this is no mild rash. It's oozing, weeping, itchy, burning blisters. Not to mention, the fact that she got the same rash from surgery makes it much more likely that it was caused by chloraprep, as that has somehow become the standard antiseptic. There can certainly be compounding allergies as well - I'm also allergic to every bandage except sorbaview and the stat lock - but I know the root cause was chloraprep. You're totally right that an allergist might be able to help though!
One strategy I have also used is to put small pieces of different bandages (or anything else we suspect I'm allergic to) on the arm with the PICC line (because I know it won't get wet) and see what happens - that way if I break out, I know the cause but can just remove the bandage/statlock and not put it over the PICC site. That was how we knew I was allergic to chloraprep, actually.
 
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