Cozumel Rash/Little Bumps

[quietstorm]

Divedoggie, by jove, you hit on something helpful: the only unexposed part of my body, including the lack of sunscreen, was my hands. So do you think putting sunscreen on the back of my hands would prevent the bites from those obnoxious little underthesea creatures? What the heck is "safesea?"

Thanks people for the input.

 

[DandyDon]

What the heck is "safesea?"

Sea lice - stay safe at the beach!

​

 

[quietstorm]

Thanks for the post, Dandy.

 

[7milehi]

Hello, I experienced the same blossom of red bumps on the back of both of my hands. I know where mine came from. It was on Santa Rosa Wall in Cozumel. I was taking a photo of a lobster tucked into a nook, as I framed the shot in my viewfinder I felt a pretty strong stinging on the back of my hands. I looked over my camera and realized I had come extremely close to the lobster and some black superfine feathery life form surrounding the nook had rejected my advance.

I swam on for another 30 minutes and tried to put it out of my mind. When we returned to the boat I asked Sandro (DM) what it may have been. I had taken a picture which he reviewed. He called it Hydrocoral. Whatever it was it did not really bother me that much. Many small red bumps formed over the next 3 days and itched a bit but was not too obnoxious. We returnrd to Minnesota and it seemed to grow for the next 2 weeks or so. My doctor prescribed some steroid cream which did not do much. It seriously took about a month and then started to just fade away. I agree that my exposure made the back of my hands look like something out of a horror movie during that month. All better now and a little wiser!

Just returned home from a cruise and dove the Santa Rosa Wall in Cozumel with my 15 y/o daughter last Monday. When swimming through a swim-through my daughter bumped her hand against the wall and said she immediately felt a burning stinging sensation. Just like Torcatdog described, my daughter has this bloom of small red bumps that itch and seems to be getting worse rather than better and its been almost a week. Wondering if its time to go to the Dr. or just use a steroid creme and wait several more days.

 

[quietstorm]

I would wait it out based upon my own experience. The bumps eventually passed after about one week or so; they always seem to linger for one week or so. The steroid creme did not seem to do anything (and I never saw a doctor).

I am heading back to Cozumel and am going to put suntan lotion allover my exposed skin, including my hands this time, and see if that does the job. It seems from the helpful input I got on this thread from another reader that the suntan lotion may act as a shield against those pesky little irritants.

 

[DandyDon]

I've been to Coz since this thread started, and I guess I bumped something too. My last dive was March 30 but still have bumps on my hand.

Biodegradable sun lotion is encouraged on reefs, actually required by park rules altho I don't know how they'd enforce that. Sun lotions help to kill coral reefs - Times Online

Biodegradable Suntan Lotion for Mexico

 

[wilto01]

Alright. I've been reading the back and forth and like something out of the kitchen galley from the movie "Jaws" and have I got a war wound for you.

I know exactly where it came from. It hurts like hell a week later. And shows no sign of going away. But no, I'm not going to pee on it. And doctors are for wimps. ;-)

I brushed up against a black-brown feathery fern like plant and it immediately began to burn. It was a hydroid for sure. Hope this helps the next unwise shirtless scuba diver. Skin will be back on next year.

 

[DandyDon]

Alright. I've been reading the back and forth and like something out of the kitchen galley from the movie "Jaws" and have I got a war wound for you.

I know exactly where it came from. It hurts like hell a week later. And shows no sign of going away. But no, I'm not going to pee on it. And doctors are for wimps. ;-)

I brushed up against a black-brown feathery fern like plant and it immediately began to burn. It was a hydroid for sure. Hope this helps the next unwise shirtless scuba diver. Skin will be back on next year.

Looks a lot like what I had on my hand. My skin grew back in a few weeks, but I don't scar easily. I certainly try to never touch anything below, but - happens to us at times.

BTW, pee was never a good idea for anything. Hydrocortizone cream maybe; seemed to feel better while my skin healed. Good luck...!

And I always wear a long jump suit.

 

[agilulfo]

My wife had the same kind of thing happen to her last November. The injury developed a few days after we got back from Cozumel even though she does not recall touching or brushing against anything. We contacted DAN but they could not give us a definite answer even though one of the doctors there said that something similar had happened to his daughter when she went to Cozumel.

Whatever it is, it's starting to look like something endemic to Cozumel. We eventually went to a clinic and a doctor gave her a shot and treated her as if she had a poison ivy injury. The injury subsided in a week or so. We are going to Cozumel in July and we will definitely steer clear of any black-brown feathery fern like plants as a precaution.

 

[bleeb]

My wife had the same kind of thing happen to her last November. The injury developed a few days after we got back from Cozumel even though she does not recall touching or brushing against anything. We contacted DAN but they could not give us a definite answer even though one of the doctors there said that something similar had happened to his daughter when she went to Cozumel.

Whatever it is, it's starting to look like something endemic to Cozumel. We eventually went to a clinic and a doctor gave her a shot and treated her as if she had a poison ivy injury. The injury subdued in a week or so. We are going to Cozumel in July and we will definitely steer clear of any black-brown feathery fern like plants as a precaution.

This is maybe starting to getting slightly off the original topic, but people have reported (including here on SB) getting stung by creatures attached to dive boat equipment that you would normally not think much of touching, like floating lines and even parts of the ladders. There's probably more risk with anything which is left in the water most of their time and/or doesn't get enough traffic to rub off any microscopic sea life, like the undersides of ladder rungs.