Acne Rash Sunscreen

[MadcapKitten]

I recently went out to Capitol Reef, where I took a ten mile hike. Half way through I applied sunscreen . In less than two days after this hike, I developed itchy skin and then a rash on my chest area, one of the places where I had applied the sunscreen. The only place I get this is usually in exposed areas that are not covered by clothing, typically my face and now my chest. Over night the rash turned into very tiny acne like bumps, and within hours those bumps developed even smaller heads on them. When I itch them the head pops, never bleeds and it seeps and crusts over and starts to heal. These bumps have since started to spread up my neck and across my chin and now up the sides of my face and onto my forehead -- all the places I applied the sun screen, but I also applied it on other exposed areas that didn't get the rash. It seems to spread quicker if the heads pop, but spreads regardless. I have had this before. I use to get it regularly and believed I had adult acne. But it has been a very long time since I have had it but seems to have some sort of relation to the hiking trip I took. I have been told its an allergic reaction to sugar? Which I do eat more sugar when hiking. But I am thinking this might be an allergic reaction to something else, maybe the sunscreen, the sun, heat? In the past it takes two weeks for these bumps to stop forming, mostly because it keeps spreading and the bumps are very close together. It starts to heal as soon as new ones start, but never in the same place it originated from, usually spread up my body or down it, but never beyond my chest. Once it has spread as far as it will, it takes a month to fully heal and for my skin to start looking healthy again. Any idea what is going on and how I can stop it from happening? It is very frustrating because by the time it starts, I schedule a Dr.'s appointment and actually go it has healed enough to the point that they tell me its just acne and to exfoliate. Exfoliation seems to make it spread faster, and nothing seems to really effect it one way or the other. Regardless of what I do it just has to run it course.