Red Oak Allergy in my 2 Year Old Daughter

[Joshua Culp]

My 22 month old daughter woke up this morning with an allergic reaction rash/welts over much of her body - especially her stomach, legs, and armpits. No fever, and no respiratory impacts.

After my wife and I brainstormed what foods and such she was exposed to yesterday, the only new thing we could come up with was red oak sawdust. I was planing some rough-cut oak to size in the garage while the kids played in the driveway. When I was done, dripping in sweat and covered in sawdust, I went out to stand in the drive and talk with my neighbor for a while. My 22 month old is afraid of the neighbor's German Shepherd and asked me to pick her up and hold her. I held her on my hip in the crook of my arm facing me. Often when I hold her like this, her shirt rides up and her belly rubs against my shirt. I pick her up under her arms, and the insides of her legs wrap around my waist. Those are the exact areas where the rash/welts were the worst and most concentrated.

I am aware of some people having respiratory irritation to breathing sawdust from (usually) exotic hardwoods, but I have never heard of people having a contact dermatitis reaction to coming in contact with the sawdust on their skin. After poking around on the web, it seems that this type of skin reaction to oak is documented, but not very common.

Are any other Creekers allergic to certain species of sawdust coming in contact with your skin? Have any of you seen an allergist for it, and what did the doctor say? We are making an appointment for our daughter, but I'm curious to learn what I can in the meantime.


Semper Fidelis,
Joshua

[harry hood]

I have a similar reaction to red oak dust which I've had ever since I started woodworking when I was little kid. Normally I just avoid red oak but occasionally I'll hand plane it with a long sleeve shirt and latex gloves on. Just touching it doesn't do anything, the dust really needs to get rubbed into my skin sort of like what you described with your daughter.

I've never seen an allergist for it but just like me my son had some bad food allergies which we started testing for when he was about two (my daughter didn't have any). I'd recommend pushing your doctor to order and insurance company to pay for a blood test instead of a scratch test. It costs more and the results take a few weeks but it's more accurate than a scratch test and, at least for my kids, far less traumatic. Good luck and start building with cherry!

[Ryan Brucks]

Sorry to hear about that.

I technically have an oak allergy, but its very mild and never caused a skin issue for me, but I haven't really been sweaty and covered in the dust yet. like the previous poster, some dry sawdust on my arms, hands has never been an issue. but if I dont use mask/dc I'll get stuffy and headache pretty quick when sanding the stuff.

I wonder if being sweaty somehow makes the stuff alot more likely to be an irritant, even in a way that would pass on to your daughter a bit. like the moisture somehow dissolves out some of the chemicals perhaps... just a thought.

[Roy Harding]

I've heard of allergies to many species of wood. Walnut, cherry, and cedar come to mind immediately.

It's probably worthwhile to have your Doctor confirm your suspicions - some allergies can cause anaphylactic shock - which can be very serious.

[Joshua Culp]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

We are wondering if the reaction was worsened by her bath that night. I know that with the CS crystals that the USMC uses in the gas chamber, taking a hot/warm shower afterwards will open the pores of the skin and let it in. Had we known she was going to have a reaction, she would have gotten a cold bath that night. ...of course if we had known, I would not have picked her up and held her in the first place.

[johnny means]

My daughter had an inexplicable rash all over her body last year. We assumed it was a reaction to some external irritant, but took her to the doctor anyway. Turns out she had a life threaten illness known as Scarlet Fever. Point being, see a doctor, dont assume anything when it comes to your baby's health.

[Don Jarvie]

A doctors visit is necessary at least to get a prescription for the rash. For what you describe it sounds like a rash from the oak. You can discuss with the doctor whether further testing for other allergies is warrented at this time.

[David Hostetler]

Chances are if she's reacting to the oak, she may be sensitive to other things as well. You may want to get her checked out by a good allergist.

[Joshua Culp]

Yes, she has already been to the pediatrician, and my wife is setting up an appointment with the allergist - the same one that we use for my son who is allergic to peanuts.

Thanks again for the feedback. Has anyone else had a skin reaction to wood dust?

[ian maybury]

Different people have differing degrees of sensitivity to stuff, but in principle it's possible to get sensitised to almost anything. Even quite normal and everyday materials. Sensitised means it's got into a person's system and their immune system has identifed it as a threat - and set up the typical allergic response. It may take numerous exposures to get to that situation.

One to be careful of is that it may be hard if she truly is sensitised to the oak (which she may not - it may just have been the heavy exposure on that occasion that caused a reaction) to prevent her from routinely coming in contact with it.

I'm personally not a much of a fan of allergy testing. I've had a lot of thyroid trouble, and as a result developed all sorts of allergies and sensitivities - but testing (including blood/antibody testing) was never able to confirm any of them. Despite the fact that I subsequently proved to have had a quite serious auto immune disease....

ian

[Roy Harding]

When I was in trades school I saw a young lady's face swell up to about twice normal size when she was turning some cherry on a lathe - she'd never been allergic to anything in her life.

I now live in an area of the country where there are a lot of lumber mills. Many folks around here who used to work in the mills developed allergies to cedar and pine after years of exposure. Some of those folks can't stand to be in my shop at all (I do a lot of work with cedar).

As others have mentioned - you need to have your daughter seen by a Doctor.

[Clint Baxter]

I have issues with red oak as well. Not too serious that I can't work with it, but is irritates my throat and nose whenever I work it. The only other wood that has affected me was some rosewood after I got a very heavy dose of sanding dust on me. Literally had blisters on my arms from it. Funny part is that I've worked with a lot of rosewood and other woods known for being irritants since without have any real issues. I just have my recurring issues with red oak. Unfortunately, many customers want red oak and if I can't talk them into a nicer wood such as cherry or walnut, I end up charging them extra for working the oak. :-)

Clint

[Timothy Wolf]

I have a pretty nasty allergy to pine so I generally avoid it. My eyes swell my nose runs and mylungs tighten. It sometimes affects my skin with a rash to, if I have to cut pine I shower immediately afterwards and that seems to help. I have not noticed a problem with pores opening up and making it worse in my experience. I did feel that back in the day when I was in the Corps and getting gassed by cs.

[Joshua Culp]

Here's an update: if you remember, the rash/hives/welts were concentrated in the areas where my daughter's skin contacted my sawdust-covered shirt when I held her. Well, they continued to get worse over the course of the next 3 days until it covered her whole body. But at the same time, the first areas that were affected were getting better and clearing up as new areas became affected. Really weird. We changed her sheets, washed her lovey blankets, and parked the minivan in the drive and took her out the sliding doors on the back deck to get in the car so she hasn't been in the garage since. The pediatrician put her on an oral steroid, and we continued the Benadryl. No fever, and no respiratory problems throughout the whole thing. Her appointment with the allergist is this week. The poor girl has been miserable. She has scratches where she was itching and scratching so bad. We're thankful that it is over, and hoping for a concrete answer from the allergist appointment this week.

Thanks again to everyone who has provided some feedback. It helps me understand the nature of wood dermatitis allergies.

[Ron Natalie]

I'm sensitive to pine in a similar way to Timothy. Took me a while until I figured out why I got sick every year at Christmas. I can handle it if I'm just cutting it, but if I get a lot of sanding dust, I'll be coughing for weeks. My arms break out if I handle a live pine (like I'm putting it into the Christmas tree stand...).

[Ole Anderson]

I'm no expert as I haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lately, but contact dermatitis usually only involves skin that has been in contact with the allergen. If the skin reaction moves around as it did in your daughter's case, it may be a case of hives, which is a generalized allergic reaction, sometimes mild, sometimes severe and sometimes accompanied by more acute symptoms such as swelling of the tongue or throat. I just had my first case of the hives a month ago and it took a 10 days to clear up, and then only after a 6 day steroid pack and a liberal dosing of a 1% hydro-cortisone cream to the hot areas. In my case my allergist ruled out pistachios, which I had just consumed a large amount of just prior to the onset of my symptoms. Most likely mine was caused by an aspirin followed by 2 ibuprofen, and a missed antihistamine pill. My internist later said that sometimes hives just occur for no reason. Oh, and my allergist said he has been treating a woman for over 30 years for a continuous case of hives. Yikes.

Try Googling "hives".

[Ryan Brucks]

I posted before saying I have a minor oak allergy but rarely any issues, never skin issues....

last night I was cutting some oak veneer ply. My table saw dust collection was less good than usual... ironically because I was in the midst of upgrading it :) I was temporarily just using a shopvac for the blade guard DC port, so was getting alot of dust everywhere. anyways... my whole left arm on top got red and blotchy. A very "hives" type of appearance. Couldn't stop itching. Cold water helped the itching some. At the same time my right thigh got the same thing to a lesser extent. Went away after a few hours. I definitely was not sweaty or anything, but my arm was a bit dusty, and I suppose some of the dust must have fallen down my pants, since that's the part of my leg that was closest to the blade.


So I am glad I am upgrading my shop DC... it's crazy that even just increasing my exposure just a little beyond what I "normally" get was enough to see something for me. Maybe my allergy is indeed slowly getting worse...

[Joshua Culp]

Sorry to hear that, Ryan - but thanks for posting. I'm trying to understand as much as I can before my daughter's appointment with the allergist later this week.

[daniel lane]

Joshua,

I don't have any known allergies, but when I was a young teen I experienced a horrendous case of hives, like Ole mentioned above. The doctor couldn't figure out what caused it, but he took photographs for a journal article and reference! I tell you this so you have a 'positive' in here with the other stories, your daughter may have had a reaction to the oak, but it could well be a one-off. I suffered no ill effects from the reaction (other than the itching at the time) and haven't had another case since. I hope your daughter gets well soon (mine is 21mo!), I'll be keeping you guys in my thoughts and hoping for a quick and easy resolution.


daniel