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Skin Allergy to Pine

I recently had a severe skin allergic reaction to something in my yard.  Similar to a poison ivy but was not.  My regular doctor agreed it was not poison ivy/oak but something else I scratched against in my yard.  I believe it was my Mugo Pine.  Anyone have information about this?  Seeing an allergist in a few weeks but they said over the phone that it would be rare.
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I've been allergic to evergreens for decades. Terrible skin rash. And I can't drink gin or I'll feel awful the next day. It's flavored with juniper berries.
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I am experinging a pine needle allergic reaction now.  Both arms covered with 1/2 welts. Going on the 5th day. Taking Benedryl, ran out of Benedryl gel, tonight, so am applying lavender oil which seems to reduce the itch. It seems as if the needles pierced my skin as there appears to be a needle mark in the middle of each welt. I was diagnosed with an allergy to pine pollen via a scratch test done by a doctor a long time ago.  Can't remember this severe of a reaction before. Does anyone know how these itchy welts will last?
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I've been breaking out in hives for years after gardening, but just recently linked it to the occasions when I had been handling our coniferous trees/shrubs.  Now I take an oral Benadryl before I work on the evergreens.  When I break out in hives, I wash the affected area with Dawn dish suds (to remove the plant oils) and finally dry and swab the area with peroxide (because I always end up with some cuts).  Sometimes that’s enough to stop the itch, so I might apply an antibiotic ointment like Bacitracin to prevent infection.  But if it's very itchy, I skip the Bacitracin and apply a topical anti-itch cream like Hydrocortisone or Benadryl topical ointment.  The hives may take up to an hour to die down.
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Avatar universal
I recently have been digging up our Christmas trees to replant (property line dispute) and have come down with horrible rashes all over my forearms. These trees are about 4-6 feet tall so my arms were touching them quite a bit.
The rashes are REALLY bad. My question is, how long did it take for your rashes to go away, and did you use anything on the rashes to help? I still have more to dig up and transplant, but I will definitely use long sleeves from now on.
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681148 tn?1437661591
I react to the airborne smells from pine myself and will have sinus symptoms and migraines and sometime will get an asthma attack from pine if it's really strong.  I don't develop quite the rash that has been talked about here, but I do experience skin irritations from pine sap, which is also quite difficult to get off the skin, too.  I no longer have to be in constant contact with wood meant for burning in a fireplace.  I have had some good success with treating these more minor irritations by taking oral Benadryl and using Benadryl cream on the irritations and rashes themselves.  I use the Benadryl on my eczema rashes, too, if they are really itchy, since eczema is such a deep internal itch that I get any time I've consumed anything with gluten or dairy in it.
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Avatar universal
i have just discovered i get skin irritation to pine, my parents have a rooted christmas tree in a pot that they keep watered outside and bring in at christmas , every four years they replace the tree and plant the old one in the garden. while they are away in the hot weather i keep an eye on the garden (only 10 mins away by car) usually i am able to use a hosepipe but earlier this year the garden tap sprung a leak the day before they went away and i had to use an indoor tap and watering can. the first time i went round the last thing i watered was the christmas tree, by the time i got home i had developed an itchy rash all over my left hand (the hand that i had used to move the folliage to get the spout of the can into the pot) .. when i spoke on the phone to my mum a few days later she just laughed (i have long had a dislike of christmas trees - i just find them tacky) she also thought that the tree may have had some mites in it which had bitten me. i continued to water the tree while thy were away but made sure my skin was covered. my parents sprayed the tree on their return (to get rid of any mites and stop us all getting bitten at christmas) when i visited them a week later they were still telling me not to be so silly about the chrismas tree - so i brushed my hand over it and had developed an itchy rash in under 3 mins!! they began to agree i may be allergic .. i have always felt when visiting my parents at christmas i am coming down with a cold (that resolves a couple of hours after retuning home) i have always put it down to hayfever as my mums birthday is on the 22nd december and always gets a big bunch of flowers - now i wonder is it the tree!!
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351246 tn?1379682132
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi
Thanks for writing to the forum!
Yes allergy to Mugo pine is rare. Other possibilities are poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac. Common allergens found outside are pollen, mold and dust.
Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!

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