Skin Discoloration Archives

sports tape allergy

I recently damaged the ligaments in my foot, went to the physio and had my foot strapped with adhesive sports tape. I have previously had reactions to the adhesive tape made by elastoplast and the fabric bandaids but not to the brand Leukoplast. The physio told me I could leave the tape on for a few days.

I took the tape off after two days and almost immediately my skin started turning red and itchy. It is now two days later and I have a clear outline of where the tape was on my foot and ankle and it is still red and itchy.

I have started using hydrocortisone and anti itch cream which seems to be helping but I would really love to know what causes this reaction in the first place so I know what to avoid in the future.

Is it a particular type of adhesive? Are there any hypo allergenic sports tapes you know of that are available in Australia.

Danielle

Follow Ups:

• Re: sports tape allergy (Archive in skin.) Walt Stoll 10:04:06 7/23/01 (0)

In Reply to: sports tape allergy posted by Danielle Gericke on July 21, 2001 at 19:53:22:

Hi, Danielle.

Definitely allergy and the next exposure will be worse.

There are plenty of hypoallergenic tapes available but that does not mean that you will not react to THEM. The best thing is to not use ANY tape until your skin is totally normal for a week or so since already reactive skin is much more likely to react to anything.

Be sure, while you are using the topical cortisone cream (the best thing you could do) you also learn how much "taping" actually helps. All the statistics I have read (& I was a sports physician for at least 10 years) say that taping only helps for about 10-15 minutes after the taping.

Hope this helps.

Walt