It’s Allergy Season! Here’s What It’ll Do to Your Skin

Springtime is a season we can all appreciate, at least in some ways. We can enjoy the beauty and freshness of new plant life around us, reconnect with the outdoors as some warmer weather settles in, and use the spirit of renewal in the air to kickstart some of our own new projects or life changes. But for many of us, spring also comes with a pesky side effect: allergies. If you find yourself stocking up on tissues and antihistamines every spring, here’s a look into an aspect of allergies you might not know about: their effect on your skin.

How Do Seasonal Allergies Affect Your Skin?

It’s worth a reminder that seasonal allergies can affect everyone in different ways. How your body reacts to an allergen can vary, but there are several ways your skin could be feeling the pain of pollen this year.

Puffy Eyes

One of the most common symptoms of spring allergies, AKA hay fever, is itchy, watery eyes. This also tends to come with swelling and irritation around your eyes, and especially puffiness under your eyes. The area is swollen because your immune system thinks it’s heading into battle and your tear ducts are acting like fire hydrants. This can be made worse if you rub your itchy eyes too.

Skin Allergic Reactions

When it comes to seasonal allergies and pollen allergies, most people think about the areas that are affected most as being the eyes and sinuses. But did you know that if you have seasonal allergies, your skin can have a reaction too?

Too much contact with pollen can cause hives to pop up on your skin, along with inflammation and itchiness in the area where pollen touched you. If you have eczema, seasonal allergies can cause a flare-up of your symptoms, too. 

Dry Areas of Skin

Along with topical allergic reactions, seasonal allergies can cause dryness throughout your skin or in patches. You might have especially dry skin in areas that you wipe with a tissue

over and over to manage your allergy symptoms, like the area around your eyes and the base of your nose.

Ironically, when your skin gets dry, it makes you even more susceptible to irritation and skin allergy symptoms. The dryness weakens your skin’s natural protective barrier, so more of the allergens like pollen can get into your skin.

How to Relieve the Effects of Seasonal Allergies

Now that we’ve ripped off the bandage and talked about all the ways your allergies could be beating up your skin, let’s talk about how to fix it. There are plenty of ways you can help your skin make it through this allergy season.

Under Eye Patches

If you, like many, are struggling with puffiness and inflammation under your eyes this spring, under eye patches or eye masks could be your seasonal best friend. Look specifically for eye patches that de-puff and calm the area under your eyes. They might not do anything to make your eyes less itchy and watery, unfortunately, but at least you’ll still look like a million bucks while you’re at war with pollen.

Keep Up with Your Allergy Meds

This one might go without saying, but I’m going to toss it in here anyway. Your allergy medicine will reduce your body’s immune response to pollen, so they’ll help with all of your allergy symptoms including those that affect your skin. Even when you feel like you’ve stayed on top of your allergies this season, keep taking your allergy meds as your doctor has prescribed or recommended.

Wash Your Hands When You Come Inside

This is a good habit in general, to be honest, but it’s especially helpful during allergy season. Think about it – pollen gets on absolutely everything outside that you touch. It’s on your car door handle, doorknobs, railings, your mailbox, you name it. Pollen likes to stick to you so when you touch those surfaces, it stays on your hands and then you bring it into your home, and it ends up making the rounds everywhere – your counters and surfaces, your bed, even your food.

Now’s the time to get into the habit of washing your hands every time you come home or come in from outside.

Know When to Pause Irritating Skin Products

If your skin is feeling the effects of your allergies and you’re noticing that it’s sensitive or irritated or inflamed, take it easy with your skin care. It might be time to take a break from exfoliating, because this can irritate your skin further. The same goes for any other harsh or potentially irritating products like retinols or benzoyl peroxide. You can swap them out for gentler products instead, like trading your benzoyl peroxide cleanser for a soothing cleanser for the season.

Keep Your Exposure Low

If you love the spring weather, this one might be a bummer, and it’s your choice whether or not it’s worth it. But in general, if you want to minimize your allergy symptoms, you should spend less time around pollen. Reduce your time outdoors, especially in areas with a lot of pollen like parks and green spaces. Keep your windows and doors closed at home, and especially steer clear when there’s yard work being done because this stirs up a lot of pollen into the air.

Use Lymphatic Drainage to Lower Swelling

If you’re seeing swelling either under your eyes or in other areas of your face during allergy season, lymphatic drainage could help. Use strategic lymphatic drainage massage or techniques like gua sha to guide the swelling through your lymph nodes so your body can remove it and you can get that sleek jawline back. Facial massage tools or cooling skin tools can help.

Cleanse Your Skin Well

If you’ve been a bit lax about consistent skin care, now’s the time to refocus. Some amount of pollen will probably get on your skin no matter what you do, so it’s important to cleanse your skin twice a day. It’s especially important at night so you don’t transfer that pollen to your pillow so it can keep irritating your skin for the rest of the week. This is a great time to try double cleansing or adding a precleanse if you’re not on the bandwagon already.

Keeping Your Skin Happy This Allergy Season

Allergies can put a damper on anyone’s springtime, but your skin doesn’t have to take the brunt of it. With the tips above, you can keep your skin soothed and happy all spring long so

that, at a minimum, if you’re battling spring allergies, you can still look fabulous while doing it!