: I haven't been doing an awful lot of epoxying or sanding this spring, a
: little bit a couple of weeks ago. But just recently I developed a rash on
: my stomach which has lasted about 3 days now. I was wondering if this
: could be epoxy sensitivity, or some rare tropical disease. It would have
: to be a very rare tropical disease since I live on the Canadian border.
: Pamela

Hi Pamela,

I worked many years with 12 model makers that used epoxy every day. Some were very careful and some were very careless with their safety habits around epoxy. Some people are easily sensitized while others never seem to develop any sensitivity at all. We had two guys that became so sensitized they developed rashes in their hair, mouth and other areas and had to get away from using epoxy or being around it altogether. I got the rash between my fingers like poison ivy blisters. But I redoubled my efforts of being very careful around epoxy and was able to work the rest of my life around it. I washed my hands before I started to epoxy, put on hand cream and then put on rubber throw away gloves. I wore long sleeve clothing and glasses. We worked on a grill that sucked the fumes away from our faces for very good ventilation. After I finished epoxying I washed my hands in alcohol, then soap and water. After you become sensitized as you may be now, you have to be very careful because this can be dangerous in that the sensitivity can cause breathing difficulties in the swelling of your throat. If this starts to happen you need to get to a doctor for an adrenaline shot. This is just like a bee keeper becoming sensitize to a bee stings where the next sting can be bad. I’m not trying to scare you but just make you be careful.

John