The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Well, I am not giving up so quickly... I am diving this Thursday in Salt and will be adding some air to my suit to alleviate the "squeeze". 
Drysuit rash
- Thread starter CUunderH2O
- Start date
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CUunderH2O:
EEp...Sorry about the beard thing - didn't check the profile..
I've seen this so many times here in BC - had it myself, and my students - theres' really only a handful of explanations, can usually find the solution, but admittidley without being there it's hard to put the finger on it.
I would imagine a dive with an experienced instructor should be able to identify the problem quite quickly - before you give up.
wolf eel
Contributor
This is suit squeeze !
fmerkel
Contributor
wolf eel:
The neck rash is not uncommon. My wife and I have both had BAD cases of it on multiple day trips and I've seen it a lot on club dives with only one dive. Make sure the seal is relaxed (stretch over a tank for about 12 hours), then make sure it is not too tight. Get someone with experience to check it for you.
Clean it off well, plain old soapy water. Dust with plain talc to put on. If it still gives you grief then you may have to lube it. We've had good results with plain silicone grease but this is not a good idea with neoprene suits as it may get into the fabric and make future seal replacement difficult. On shell suits you can just solvent it off.
KY works I think. There is a runners aide called Body Glide that is non-petrolem based that I've heard has good results. Don't use anything petroleum based as it will rot the latex.
If nothing else works this [http://www.apollosportsusa.com/drysuit.html#Bioseal] might do the trick. It's kind of expensive and I don't have any experience with it but it "feels" nice (saw one at a dive fair).
Fritz
OP
CUunderH2O
Contributor
Well, from reading your suggestions I'm going to try 2 things this coming weekend: 1) put a bit more air in the suit 2) get some polarfleece undergarments with no seams or flat-seams to prevent chafing.
I'm also going to try washing the inside of the suit before the weekend to see if that will help. And maybe some lotion will help prevent the red ring around my neck.
And I'm still itching today, Benadryl got me to sleep last night, as well as copious amounts of calamine and a bit of hydrocortisone cream.
I'm also going to try washing the inside of the suit before the weekend to see if that will help. And maybe some lotion will help prevent the red ring around my neck.
And I'm still itching today, Benadryl got me to sleep last night, as well as copious amounts of calamine and a bit of hydrocortisone cream.
wolf eel
Contributor
I see the beard will not be much of a problem
Have you spoke with your doc yet just to make sure it is not something else. Because this is not the place to get any real medical info.
But it does sound like some purple nurples.
How where you taught to use the drysuit ? Where you taught to use it for bouyancy or just a little to kinda remove suit squeeze ?.
If you feel safe and are with somebody try to use just the suit as bouyancy at depth it may help.
cheers
Derek
OP
CUunderH2O
Contributor
My LDS had one of their instructors take me out for a drysuit orientation dive before I bought my drysuit. Their approach is to use the BC for buoyancy & the suit for insulation, adding a bit of air only to get rid of squeeze. I've read numerous posts about the 2 schools of thought about using either the DS or the BC for buoyancy, and I tend to agree with my LDS's approach. That said, I didn't realize the 'issues' that would arise with not enough air in the DS, like chafing. I am only adding 1 or 2 shots of air when I feel a squeeze. Last weekends dives were very shallow (17-25 ft), and in an area with currents & eddies so I was being careful not to put too much air in the DS. As to diving with an instructor, most of the guys I dive with are DMs or AIs, and I know they would correct me if they saw me doing something wrong. Unfortunately the only female instructor I know who could help me with the more sensitive aspects of my problem is away this week so I couldn't ask her about them.
As for seeing a doctor, I did see mine yesterday but she has a habit of being dismissive about a lot of things (I blame it on our stupid health care system), and finding another doctor is practically impossible right now. I hope things get better for this weekend's dive or I may not be able to dive dry much longer!
As for seeing a doctor, I did see mine yesterday but she has a habit of being dismissive about a lot of things (I blame it on our stupid health care system), and finding another doctor is practically impossible right now. I hope things get better for this weekend's dive or I may not be able to dive dry much longer!
Lightning Fish
Contributor
CUunderH2O:
If you are getting a rash over your body, and not just your neck, I would go see an allergy specialist and get checked for latex allergies and possibly the glue in the suit. You don't want to have a severe allergic reaction, if that is what the problem is, while you are at depth.
As for your neck welts.... I get them as well. They are restricted to my adam's apple area. I dive a bag suit with latex seals. There have been a few threads on Scubaboard about them but not overly helpful. One poster suggested that too much air in the neck area will bulge out the latex seal, resulting in the surface area of the seal contacting your skin to be restricted to just the lip of the seal, which means a lot of pressure located at one spot on your neck. Thus the welt. I don't have a problem with my neck seal bulging but still get welts.
An instructor I dove with a few months ago said he got welts during the summer months when he was more likely to sweat and the latex seal would slide a little. His solution was to use silicone grease. He used a bag suit so getting silicone on the neoprene wasn't a problem for him.
I tried athletic tape once. I put the tape over the area on my neck that got the rash, it worked and didn't leak. However, a residue of plaster was left on the seal which wouldn't easily come off until the next dive.
I've tried KY and it didn't work, though it has been posted before that KY does work. Maybe it was too hot that day and sweat was a problem. What I have tried and so far does work is silicone grease. If the silicone stops working I was going to try a second skin, usually used for blisters on your feet while hiking.
Cheers,
Bill.
If you are getting a rash over your body, and not just your neck, I would go see an allergy specialist and get checked for latex allergies and possibly the glue in the suit. You don't want to have a severe allergic reaction, if that is what the problem is, while you are at depth.
As for your neck welts.... I get them as well. They are restricted to my adam's apple area. I dive a bag suit with latex seals. There have been a few threads on Scubaboard about them but not overly helpful. One poster suggested that too much air in the neck area will bulge out the latex seal, resulting in the surface area of the seal contacting your skin to be restricted to just the lip of the seal, which means a lot of pressure located at one spot on your neck. Thus the welt. I don't have a problem with my neck seal bulging but still get welts.
An instructor I dove with a few months ago said he got welts during the summer months when he was more likely to sweat and the latex seal would slide a little. His solution was to use silicone grease. He used a bag suit so getting silicone on the neoprene wasn't a problem for him.
I tried athletic tape once. I put the tape over the area on my neck that got the rash, it worked and didn't leak. However, a residue of plaster was left on the seal which wouldn't easily come off until the next dive.
I've tried KY and it didn't work, though it has been posted before that KY does work. Maybe it was too hot that day and sweat was a problem. What I have tried and so far does work is silicone grease. If the silicone stops working I was going to try a second skin, usually used for blisters on your feet while hiking.
Cheers,
Bill.
OP
CUunderH2O
Contributor
Update: Well, I've got an appointment booked with my allergist to get checked for a latex allergy -- for mid-JANUARY! Apparently the test takes all morning to do and they can't do more than one per day, so that's all they can do for me. I asked them if they could test me for various types of glue/chemicals in the suit, but they didn't know what to do about that without knowing the types of chemicals. I'm not going to stop diving (I'm on course for the next 2 weekends), but is there anything I can do in the meantime, like use a barrier cream? If so, are there any specific ones I can use?
kazinvan
Contributor
I'm getting the same problem now. I did about 40 dives with latex seals (wrist and neck) with no problems but on the last three dives I got a red ring around my neck. I don't get a reaction on my wrists. I'm not sure what is causing it, anyone have updates on how they solved the problem? It's not much fun.
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