sensitive reaction

[:Dsmileedear!<3]

Hi all, me again!
Tonight I was doing one of my case studies and the client had a massive reaction. I have no idea what caused it. I did a patch test for lemon 2 weeks ago and he was fine. I used a lotion instead of oil as he prefers this, and it was the bog ordinary nothing added one from Base Formula. It was quite amazing to watch - first he had red patches on the scapulas, and I thought it was erythema (for about 30 seconds!) then it went very red across his shoulders and down the arms and within a minute, you could see exactly the line I had massaged, perfectly avoiding his obliques cos he hates having them touched. Apart from one thumb print where I must have touched him. Scary stuff. He had no idea! (I did tell him at that point) Not being totally sure what to do I grabbed what was to hand - a tea tree oil wipe - and cleaned my hands off and then cleaned his back off as much as I could. Then I remembered being told either full fat milk, which we don't have here, or more oil, so I slapped on loads of plain grapeseed oil, and he had the most wonderful massage for about 20 minutes as I rubbed it in, and it faded to splotches more like a rash and gradually started going down. Then he had a cool shower and came out his completely normal colour again, and feeling great from the massage! Phew! He said it just felt a tad warm like when you are in the sun, but certainly not burning, or itching etc.
Could the lotion have done this?
the blend was to try for pre exam stress and was chamomile, lavender and orange (only one drop of orange but I used it cos he is very stressed and grumpy and thought it could cheer him up a little and chill him out a bit)

Where did I go wrong?
It will make for an interesting write up for my case study at least! I can see if the tutor actually reads it!
Love Melanie x

 

[Carl F]

Two thoughts: I have a friend who is allergic to both lavender and camomile, and she comes out in hives. I also managed to give another friend a rash by using orange oil on her.

When I was training, I was told that orange oil is the one which usually causes problems, so do patch tests with that oil.

Make sure your friend knows what oils you used and, if he ever has another massage with another therapist, to tell him/her before the massage.

 

[salleoyp]

Thank you Chris.
I will leave it a day or so and then do an orange patch test on him. In the book it says completely safe!! Then I will do patch tests for the other two oils, and the lotion, and see what the offender was. Scary stuff though, and glad it happened in a case study and not a paying client! x

 

[jaymax173]

hi for anyone interested, it wasn't the oils that caused the reaction, it was the Lotion I had used instead of a carrier oil. It was free of everything, so I am really shocked. They want the huge bottle of it back for testing as they were fairly alarmed too!
So now I am looking for an alternative, free of chemicals and nasty stuff.
love Melanie x

 

[Zwench]

That's quite scary, isn't it? To have had such a quick and widespread reaction. I wonder if there were any nut oils in it? That's the only time I've seen anything as impressive as that. Your client should really know exactly what was in the stuff after it's been analysed, as his reaction next time could well be worse.

 

[horsiie]

Hi well the tiny patch test I did came up in just over 5 minutes looking like a lot of nettle stings. At least being such a small patch it washed off straight away and we smothered it in grapeseed oil and it had gone within about 30 minutes, but yes, its quite serious. Its billed as being completely free of everything (except lotion!) so I will be interested to see what they find, if they tell me, and will let you know. It was fine on me, didn't do anything horrible at all.
Love Melanie x

 

[crhavvqv]

Oooo scary, glad your client was ok, thanks for sharing.

Hip x