Treatment for Sun Allergies?

I already know that I'm allergic to the sun.  But once the itchy welts appear, sun and heat are very painful on the affected areas.  My problem is-I work outside in a coke plant where the temperatures range from ambient to 150 degrees.  Is there any treatment for this allergy-I use a 45 sunscreen with both UVA AND  UVB protection.  Nothing works.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Cindy:

Sun allergy is indeed a very tough problem.  Sunblocks don't block all the siun's rays, just the burning ones.  You might try a physical sunscreen, one containing titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, instead of or in addition to the other ingredients.  Another approach is to take an antihistamine (chlortrimeton 4mg--OTC--or Allegra or Claritin -- Rx-- before being exposed to the sun.  Finally, wearing tightly-woven clothing is another strategy.  If that fails, you may want to reconsider your assumption that this is a sun (as opposed to, say, a heat) allergy.

Best.

Dr. R

[sandyssr]

A related discussion, Allergy to the sun was started.