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Can Lithium & Molybdenum in tab water cause a skin allergy?
Ever since moving to Los Angeles in 2015 I've been battling skin irritation that originated on my scalp but has moved to other areas of my body such as my eyelids, arm pits, and pelvic area. I saw a dermatologist and they were under the belief that it was an allergy. I saw an allergist and my panel came back negative, no allergies. I am convinced it has something to do with the tap water. I had bounced around with various hygiene products but found that Cleure mitigates my symptoms the best. I've tried the list below and none of them have had long term effects.
Clobetasol 0.05% Solution
Desonide 0.05% Ointment
Tacrolimus 0.1% Ointment
Ketoconazole 2% Shampoo
Cortisone Cream
Marin Soothing Hydration Cream
When I spend a stretch of time in the town I grew up in, these symptoms seem dramatically decrease but I'm never there long enough for them to go away.
I have a springwell water filter system at home, and I thought that would end my troubles, but it hasn't. I have tried a handful of other filters as well but can never get rid of whatever this is.
Update: Did some research and found out that the only two ingredients that in CA tap water that aren't in CT tap water and are not filtered out from what I have are Lithium and Molybdenum. Can these cause the skin irritation that I've described?
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@ceravone18 Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect! That must be disheartening to have this skin issue!
It could be danged near impossible to get away from water issues if that is the cause of your irritation. The areas you describe are often sensitive to irritants, and are covered up, so reactions can persist and survive. Does using a fungal powder labeled for athlete's foot help at all? [don't use near your eyes!] Perhaps using witch hazel on those areas after you cleanse would remove irritants remaining on your skin?
Ginger
I personally have been battling allergic skin issues for a while now. I learned that I have an allergy to various fragrance ingredients, and eliminated them from my products. I still was having itching. I then did a metal contact allergy test I found on Amazon called Sensiband, since I already knew I had a metal allergy, just not which metal. That test had seven metals, and I tested positive for three--copper, molybdenum, and cobalt. I'm fairly certain that I’m also allergic to stainless steel, but I'm still working everything out.
I've learned that there are many dietary sources of these three metals, and we all need a certain amount of each of them to survive. If you're allergic to molybdenum, you're probably going to react to it if you're exposed on any given day to an amount that exceeds the threshold that you can manage without a reaction. Because of this, if it’s in the tap water, that's going to increase your exposure to it, and you will exceed your threshold more often.
The best way to find out if you're allergic is to test for it, either through an allergist or using a test like the one I described. My allergist was through Kaiser, and they would only test me for nickel, which I was negative to. This was even after I suggested that my cramps all month long might have been due to a copper allergy to my IUD, and my ob/gyn simply dismissed that as "extremely unlikely". I've since learned that any metal in your body is going to make you much more likely to develop an allergy to that substance. I got rid of the IUD a long time ago, but recently realized that my heating pad was giving me mad back itching all through the winter months, and my skin wasn't even in direct contact with the copper. What seems to make my metal allergies much much worse is whether my skin perspires in the places where it makes contact with the metal. My biggest areas of torment have been my scalp, bra underwire area, and lower back. I suspect your issue might relate to perspiration in some way as well, based on the areas you've identified. The perspiration issue may also extend to any part of the body that's moist, including sinuses, mouth, vagina/uterus, etc.
I hope something I’ve said here helps you; I’m obviously not a medical professional, but I've had to learn a lot on my own where my doctors weren't helping me. Please respond with an update when you can!