Can Mold Cause a Skin Rash?
Is your rash a mold exposure rash?
If you’re wondering does mold cause skin rashes, the answer is simply put, yes. Studies have shown that more than 50% of people exposed to mold developed a mold skin rash or other skin irritation and mold allergy symptoms. Mold can cause a number of allergic and respiratory effects -including watery eyes, shortness of breath, and other asthma symptoms.
The air inside your home is full of all sorts of pollen, dust, fungi, and types of mold (outdoor mold). These outside contaminants make their way inside through open doors, windows, and vents. Avoiding mold is difficult and allergies to molds are very common.
Black mold can grow inside your home if your home is particularly damp. This can not only cause skin rashes and trigger asthma and other allergic reactions to mold but also cause many other adverse health issues.
Mold is responsible for several negative health effects. If you experience consistent
- nasal congestion
- throat irritation
- eye irritation
- skin rashes
Mold is likely the cause.
Is your rash from mold? Take our questionnaire to find out!
Dampness Causes Mold Allergy Rashes
Don’t assume that your home is safe from mold! It’s estimated that more than 50% of all buildings in the United States are water damaged. This statistic includes both residential and commercial buildings.
Your eyes and nose are not the most reliable way to tell if there is water damage in a building. ,Dampness and the resulting mold growth occurs too often in areas you can’t see. This includes parts of your home like attics, crawl spaces, or HVAC (central air conditioning) systems.
To accurately find out whether your home has water damage, you need specialized testing. I go into detail about how to accurately test your home for mold here.
Symptoms of Mold Sickness
The symptoms of mold sickness are unfortunately endless . When you include the condition known as Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), the list grows longer still. CIRS can cause medical conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.
Flourish Clinic specializes in the treatment of CIRS and mold sickness. Learn more!
Here are some of the symptoms caused by mold:
- Nasal congestion
- Throat irritation
- Coughing/wheezing
- Eye irritation
- Skin rashes or irritation
Mold and the skin – the gut connection
Do you know what the treatment for severe acne is?
Your doctor will often prescribe antibiotics, like tetracycline, as the first line of treatment. Antibiotics affect your gut, which is strongly connected to the health of your skin.
In the early ’90s and ’00s, people with moderate to severe acne were prescribed Accutane. Unfortunately, it had an intense side effect… Accutane was strongly associated with causing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Another gut and skin connection is leaky gut. Patients with acne can have elevated levels of something called lipopolysaccharides (LPS). High LPS levels indicate you have a leaky gut.
FYI – a leaky gut is a common cause of fatigue!
Celiac disease affects the small intestine. However, it can appear as a skin condition known as dermatitis herpetiformis (DH). In fact, more than 10% of celiac disease shows up as a skin issue.
In DH, patients will often have zero symptoms commonly associated with celiac disease – bloating, diarrhea, abdominal pain. Instead, the most common symptom is an incredibly itchy skin rash. Learn more about how gluten causes skin rashes!
How mold causes toxic mold rashes
You don’t need to touch mold to develop a skin rash.
Skin rashes from mold often comes from an internal infection from an unknown source.
If you’re dealing with an unexplained skin rash, follow these two steps:
- Test your home for mold
- Make an appointment with an allergist to test for a mold allergy
If you are allergic to mold, an allergy test (a skin prick test or blood test) measuring your IgE immune system response will likely test positive. Other immune system tests like IgG and IgM can also point in the direction of a mold allergy.
If your allergy test comes out negative, you will need to consider other causes.
What to do if you think mold is causing your skin rashes?
Regardless of what your mold symptom(s) may be, the first step in treatment is to remove yourself from the water-damaged building. Test your home and your workplace to determine if either building has water damage. I share details of how to properly test for mold in this blog post.
For mold rashes specifically, some people respond well to oatmeal baths to temporarily soothe their rashes.
For 75% of the population, the simple act of removing yourself from the moldy environment will improve your skin rashes. The other 25% of the population has what I call a moldy gene that prevents their body from expelling mold toxins even when they’ve left the mold-infested environment.
People with moldy genes will need to undergo a more intense treatment plan to alleviate your skin rashes. Working with a mold-literate practitioner is essential.
Now, I want to hear from you!
What effect did mold have on your skin?
Leave your answers in the comments section below!
Flourish Clinic specializes in the treatment of mold sickness. Learn more!
Mark Volmer has attained the highest level of Shoemaker Protocol certification, and is one of only two of Canada’s Shoemaker Protocol practitioners. The Shoemaker Protocol is the only scientifically proven method of treating CIRS.
Wow, I never knew that mold could cause different health issues, such as skin rashes and throat irritation. I can see why this is a menace around homes since it spreads around areas you can’t see. I will keep this in mind and find a mold expert that can remove this from my home when necessary.