Alexandra Allen was 12 when she first had an hypersensitized response to weewee . After spending a long holiday day swim and splosh around in a pool , Allen obtain herself covered in angry reddened beehive . Though it was clear she was sensitised to something , ab initio no one distrust it could be water .
But from that point on , Allen continued to bankrupt out at the touch of weewee — and her outbreaks bug out to increase in intensity level . Doctors assumed she was tender to chemicals in impure water and repeatedly prescribe antihistamine to combat the allergy — but the antihistamines did n’t help . lastly , after reading a tilt of unusual diseases on the net , Allen name herself . She publish the article and bestow it to her allergist , whose initial disbelief turned to shock when a simple trial — press a piddle - soak tag to Allen ’s arm — came out positive .
In an interview withNew York Magazine , Allen , now 18 and in college , described what it feel like to be hypersensitive to water . “ Technically , it ’s a skin disease , not an allergic reaction , ” she explain . “ Everyone produces fossil oil that soften their skin , but the oils I grow become toxic when they meet water — and that ’s the part that ’s a closed book to doctors . ”
“ I describe it as like the top level of your skin getting sand off — you sense very raw , ” she said .
The unwellness , which was first observed in 1963 , is incredibly rare : few than 100 cases have ever been immortalize . As a final result , few trends or risk of exposure factors have been identify , though so far it ’s more common in woman , and usually begin during pubescence . Its technical name is aquagenic urticaria .
Allen has learned to survive with the disease , though she admits it ’s frustrating : she ca n’t go out in the rainfall , and always carries a jacket crown to cover up her frequent eruption of hives . But she still finds occasional humor in her situation : “ I was of late at this party where somebody had water balloons and squirt guns , and it was this hilarious moment where everyone around me had this feel of scourge realizing that they had to protect me from body of water , ” she said . “ I experience like that ’s a quintessential moment in my life — I need an entourage to protect me from spurt guns . ”
say the full audience atNew York Magazine .
