Alergic to Lines?

[bobk]

Both Gayle and I seem to get poison ivy-like bumps along the edges of our fingers after handling the dock or anchor lines. Can this be an allergy? Has anyone else experienced this?

Bobk

 

[Boatsb]

Could there be something on the lines? An algae or did you was them in a scented solution?

 

[jim rosenthal]

You are unlikely to be allergic to the lines themselves; you are more likely to be allergic to something that is on them. It seems unlikely that both of you would develop the same allergy; more likely something is on them that causes the reaction. As a first step, I'd wash them and see if that solves the problem; you might also wear gloves while you're handling them, until you get them off the boat and can wash them. Most lines are nylon; allergy to nylon is very unusual, I can't recall ever seeing a patient allergic to it.

 

[Sharon Jean]

Both Gayle and I seem to get poison ivy-like bumps along the edges of our fingers after handling the dock or anchor lines. Can this be an allergy? Has anyone else experienced this?

Bobk

Are you sure it happens with both dock and anchor lines? If by chance it is only the anchor line, perhaps it was dragged through a school of jellyfish at some point in recent history.

 

[Fanfare]

Or some loose fiberglass particles scraped off of something?

 

[bobk]

Jim, I should have been more careful with my words. Yes, as a plastics chemist I know we are not allergic to the nylon. It is probably something on them.

Not jelly fish as our dock lines have done this as well as lines up on the Erie Canal.

I wondered about algae or some such. None of my lines have been washed with anything but Dawn. So no one else has had this experience.

We should be wearing gloves, but as old as we are, we forget most of the time.
Bobk

 

[season]

I am not a doctor but could the roughness of the lines be contributing to some type of dermatitis that is activated by the abrasiveness of the lines slipping through your hands. Have you changed soaps for bathing or hand washing recently? If you both are experiencing the same symptom it has to be a shared exposure.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Usually when I see someone with contact dermatitis (contact allergy) it is not caused by soaps or detergents, although we always ask about it. How long do the symptoms last after you handle the lines? Just curious.

 

[johnjen50]

Were you in an area that you could have picked up fire coral on the lines? This can cause a pretty unpleasant rash like symptom on skin. I would wash them and see how you make out.

 

[bobk]

Usually when I see someone with contact dermatitis (contact allergy) it is not caused by soaps or detergents, although we always ask about it. How long do the symptoms last after you handle the lines? Just curious.

Jim, the bumps and itch last about a week. They are pretty much confined to the fingers next to the thumb, on the thumb side of them, and only at the edge where the tougher skin meets the softer back of the finger. This is of course the area that the line works against while heaving or retrieving. The bumps never turn to blisters like those from poison ivy.

Bobk

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Buy some new lines.

 

[bobk]

Buy some new lines.

Great idea Sky. What is your AMEX number Lets see, a set for BYC, another set for TBYC, a set for travel, bridles, snubbers, anchor line and backup. Then these will become the same way. I think we need to remember our gloves.

Bobk

 

[jim rosenthal]

I hate to say this, but Sky may be right- there may be something on them that won't wash off with rain, etc, which irritates your skin when you handle them. I think I'd wash them first, and if that doesn't work, you may have to get new ones. But what's to prevent it from happening to the new ones, too? Weird.