cocus allergy signs and symptoms

[rama]

for those suffering from wood allergies, what has been your personal experience?

[chas]

I'm not 100% sure that I have the wood allergy, but voted anyway. I had what I'd thought was a case of sever chapped lower lip. Actually it was the area below the lower lip. Nothing helped it, and it looked a lot like the area that contacts a flute when you play it. So I started playing only an untreated boxwood flute. It became better, then worse; I tried correlating it with all sorts of things. The last was a cocobolo whistle I'd made. When I finally sold it, the dermatitis went away for good. I never had any symptoms when turning the stuff, but after reading of some experiences on this forum, decided I'd never turn coco again. It's a pity; it turns nicely, looks wonderful and even smells good.

[rama]

thanks chas, your feedback is helpful. i've had alot of changes in the past year and since this past winter i developed all of the above symptoms at one point or another, suspecting either a wood allergy and/or dog allergy - i am in the process of elimination. but i also thought since this topic comes up from time to time that perhaps we have a thread that lists actual cases/experiences as more of a reference source.
the more reports from folks the better...

[Nanohedron]

Below-the-lip-above-the-chin contact dermatitis, here; a suppurating blistered purple-red patch of burning skin is socially most awkward, and it takes all the fun out of fluting, which is challenging enough already. As I favor blackwood, I have to have a non- or at least hypo-allergenic lip inset, and no question: once you're sensitised, it only gets worse with further contact. Sterling silver works for me.

Here's a point of caution that people may not realise with new flutes: shop dust. When I got my Noy, I still was getting inflammation, and I was devastated, because it had a lip plate, and yet no relief for me. Then someone not even a fluteplayer pointed out the obvious possibility, and so I fell to wiping down and swabbing every accessible surface on the instrument (with water, not oil, as oil can vector these irritants; I even removed the keys to do this), and vacuuming and vigorously wiping down the case lining and exterior as well. Everything. And the cleaning cloths did come away with a surprising amount of purple dust, and I repeated the process until the rags and swabs came away as clean as I could tell. For good measure I carefully took a swab and rubbing alcohol to the lip plate to take care of anything more microscopic, just in case. No problems, now.

[Denny]

some Boehm players have a reaction the sterling silver

[Nanohedron]

some Boehm players have a reaction the sterling silver

Come the day, I'll go with surgical steel or even white gold if I have to. Until then, I can't be arsed to worry about it.

[Denny]

didn't worry about black wood.....

gold is the usual choice

[Nanohedron]

Hmm. Upon Googling, looks like even white gold can be problematic if it's alloyed with nickel, but far less so with palladium. Titanium is apparently non-allergenic altogether. Maybe that's the ultimate ticket! Don't wanna deviate too far from the look of silver, you know...

[Denny]

platinum?

[Nanohedron]

platinum?

Looks like the jury's out. Platinum salts can be a health concern, apparently, but a lip plate might be different. I get the impression that more research needs to be done.

[Denny]

flute doesn't seem like a deadly instrument

[Nanohedron]

flute doesn't seem like a deadly instrument

Yeah, who knew? Seems like playing in traffic's a better bet some days.

[Denny]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVlbgqmxXNY

[chas]

I can't wear sterling silver earrings; ear puffs up like a balloon within a day or two. I have to stick to gold, gold-plate, and stainless. I had an uncle who had to have an 18K wedding band because he was allergic to something in 14k gold. He worked with his hands, too, and 18K is significantly softer than 14K, and that ring was so banged up. I have rings of 14k yellow gold and white gold, both for years, and no problem with them yet.

[rama]

thanks to all who answered the poll thus far - 100% lips and chin irritation, just what i was hoping.

during this past winter up until a few weeks ago i did experience chap lips but no chin irritaton, and had other symptoms come and go to my forearms, torso, and sinus/respiratory tract, leading me to ponder that perhaps i had other stuff going on like maybe dog allergy or something else. so the past couple weeks i stayed away from dogs, and after a long hiatus from flutes, i picked up and played a couple cocus flutes individually with no ill effects, which i am thrilled to report. back in the saddle again...

unless some folks report different experiences... it seems clear that actual cocus problems are limited to chin/lips so far as we know...