Modal / Beechwood Allergy?

[stressedinNYC]

I recently bought my husband some underwear made of 97% modal.  Subsequently, he developed itching, burning and redness on the head of his penis.  We thought maybe it was a fungal infection, so he went to his urologist for evaluation.  The urologist thought the same and prescribed a ketoconazole/hydrocortisone topical for him to use.  The symptoms did not go away.  He did testing for all STDs and even sent him for a sonogram to check for cancer.  This has been going on for about 3 months now.  

The onset of symptoms seems to be about the same as when he started wearing the underwear, however the only area that was affected was the head of the penis, not his legs or buttocks.  Furthermore, we have just discovered that our bedding is made of 100% modal and hasn't really seemed to bother him.  I am thinking that because the penis is a portal of entry into the body, that the allergen entered caused a mucosal irritation but didn't cause any problems to the thicker skin of his body????

Is there anyone who has had a similar experience with Modal fabric?  It's causing us a lot of stress!  Thanks in advance.

[Ceej79]

I had severe painful burning/itching on my bottom legs and I immediately knew to look at the label of the new joggers I just bought. Sure enough they were made of modal, which i never even heard of til then. The first piece of clothing I have ever bought that lists that as the fabric type. Disgusting

[grepnork]

I've had non-itchy redness in my inner thigh for the past 3 months. Finally discovered yesterday that it maybe a pair of pajama that I started wearing exactly 3 months ago (95% modal, 5%spandex). The pajama is very soft and comfortable so I've been wearing it off and on during the shelter-in-place, and hence the redness has come and gone as well. Staying away from the pants 1 full day has already improved condition on my thigh. Should I still proceed to take the antihistamine my doctor has prescribed?

[kmh001]

OMG you just saved my life!  We have been using 100% jersey knit MODAL sheets since September. Also since then I have been having this horrible itching & bite like issues. My doctor has had me on scabies cream so often I don't want to tell him it's not working, for fear of another round. Now I just need him to believe me

[linn5]

Same here! I bought some pj pants from Gap made of modal and also had dry itchy red skin that was basically inflamed. I suspected it might be yeast and went to dermatologist and gyno worrying it was serious. I also take probiotics and eat rather well. After years of this annoyance and a multitude of med practitioners I finally went to a new Dr who took a sample of my skin (didn't hurt) and ran an allergy test thru the lab. This was the only Dr who was this thorough, bless him.

Discovered I was highly allergic to polyester and nylon and he said to avoid modal. I was given an ointment, changed over to 100% cotton or silk and it cleared up within a month. I also switched to cetaphil soap. I once wore a modal blend item and it flared up again. Thanks for the info about it being extra absorbent, it makes sense. I can wear nylon tops w/o a reaction but have since discarded the few blends that I had, it's not worth it.

Also check your bedding to make sure it's not a poly/modal blend either. I had no idea my sleepwear was causing this horrendous and uncomfortable problem, not to mention how embarrassing it was. Manufacturers have a way of sneaking this stuff in because it's cheap. Good luck to those who are suffering from this.

[luckycat318]

Oh yes! I bought pairs of high end modal/cotton thong underwear and wore them exclusively. I started having irritation, bleeding and itching around my anus as well as what appeared to be the start of external hemmorhoids. I had never had this in my life, eat healthy, take probiotics...so this was really disconcerting. I went back to wearing regular cotton underwear (no thongs!) and using a hydrocortison cream and in just two days I'm almost back to normal. Just two days.

Please note also that modal is also 50% more hygroscopic (water-absorbent) than cotton! So even if you don't have an allergy to beechwood, wearing underwear with this fiber in will attract more moisture and be a breeding ground for dampness, infection, skin sensitivity.

Do yourself a favor and stay away from this fabric. And certainly don't wear underwear made out of it, especially thong underwear!!

[littlelili443]

pepperann684 it might last for a while. I bought panties from a very well know company with 90% modal. I wear them beginning of March 2012, it hurt me everywhere in my personal area, I was red and swollen. Today (end of April 2012), the redness and swollen is gone but  I still feel a small pain due to dryness on the outer vaginal lip (where the skin was the most in contact with the panties). I don't know if it is modal itself or the chemicals they used to process the fabric but I would NOT have bought these panties if I knew that modal is process with harsh chemicals. I would like companies to put a warning for sensitive people.

[pepperann684]

and i just wanted to say that not only did i have hives but the entire night at dinner i kept telling my husband that my head was sooooooo itchy! so my head was itchy, my body was itchy and my armpits where itchy. I had hives on everything and my boobs looked like they were ready to be lit on fire they were so read and the hives i had and still have right now for the 3rd time are huge swollen almost blister like along with much smaller almost pimple sized ones as well that all itch the same......like crazy! The Dr. in the ER gave me Methylprednisolone 4MG dospak 21's (this is a steroid), Famotidine 40 MG tablets, and Hydroxyzine Hcl 10MG......let's see how this works...hopefully I will have a good report!.........Anyone out there know how long this may last?

[pepperann684]

i bought a shirt from old navy this past week wore it to work and went to dinner that night. Started feeling some itching around my pants line on my waste and around my bra line. Didn't think much of it, but got  a shower and took some Benadryl since i saw some irritation. The next day I was so itchy and had hives on my torso and rib cage. I went to work anyway. I only made it half way through the day and was already out of my bra and in a t-shirt with Benadryl in my system and then into sweatpants and an hour later in the emergency room the hives were so bad! They gave me a super shot of Benadryl and an I.V. and sent me home since they seemed to be going away. that night i woke up at 1:30 am and it started all over again! i took the meds they gave me and luckily fell back asleep around 3am. And yet again i woke back up around 8am with them again and even worse than the ones in the middle of the night! Hopefully they get better with the prescriptions they have given me and i can go back to work on monday! I will not be wearing modal again!!!!!!!

[mrssken]

I bought ladies Pj bottoms & tops from Kohls very comfy loose fitting about a year ago, I have just realized just now that the allergy under my breasts are from these pj tops - I thought the whole time it is the nickel in the bras I have been wearing because I'm sensitive to nickel as well but it seems that isn't the issue and the modal is the issue only when I wear these pjs, and last summer I thought I had jiggers because on my legs were bite looking marks all up and down my legs.  Weird but now I have to give up something so comfortable to be comfortable. :(  but it will be  worth not having the rashy red itchy mess I have been dealiing with.

[NoModal]

I wore a sweater today 40% modal, watch itching so bad on torso, under arms, even legs and head.  Got worse as the day went on.  Took off sweater and felt better so checked the tag and then started researching Modal.

[karriesue]

I purchased a camisole recently, wore it for two days and broke out with hives just on my middle torso. Thought if I washed it a coupl of time, it would be ok to wear. Unfortunatley, I wore it one more day four days ago and have had to have medication (internal) as pain, red raised hives. As yet, the meds have made it better but not going away fast enough to suite me. Very uncomfortable

[axelmyrtle]

Yes! I've had an acute allergic dermatitis reaction to the Modal (88%) in my bra.  I had a rash that started under my arms about 2 mos. ago, went through all kinds of scenarios about fungal, bacterial, candida yeast infections, continued wearing this bra not thinking about what  the fiber content was. The rash got worse, looking like poison ivy, spread all over, then went to a derm. who prescribed a super antihistamine and it started getting better.  After the rash finally calming down for the most part, a couple of days ago I wore the bra for the first time in a while, and the rash came back severely- red, itchy, weltlike. Took the bra off, took antihistamines, next day I'm back to having the rash go away.
Hopefully, this will help, but I'm sorry you had to go through the months of tests to get to this end. I don't know that this doesn't have something to do with a compromised immune system for us, but I've never had this kind of reaction to anything before.