Have you ever gone swimming and after you got out you had some itching on certain parts of your body, or in some cases, all over? It could be a wide array of things but lets point out some of the more common things along with some things that are not so common.
Allergic Reaction: Sometimes if you’re itching after getting out of the pool it could be because your skin is reacting with some chemicals. Chlorine is most likely the culprit. Chlorine is a salt derived from hypochlorous acid and it chemically reacts with your skin. It can cause symptoms such as burning, itching and rash development. The quickest way to get rid of this is to try to cleanse your skin as quickly as possible. They also make products to help counter this reaction. To see if you have a allergy to chlorine visit your dermatologist to confirm.
Water Acidity: If the water is to acidic it could very well cause itching in the water. Technically, a 7.0 PH is neutral on the PH scale so anything above 7.0 is technically more basic than acidic. We should do our best to keep our swim water above 7.2. Anything below that, especially mid 6’s could cause the water to be acidic and to itch. Also you may want to check your LSI in order to see if your overall water chemistry is acidic. The quickest solution is to address whatever chemical is out of whack to bring it into balance.
Fiberglass Pools: You should have your fiberglass pool gel coated every 10 years. Once they gel coating is worn off you’re down to bare fiberglass. As that begins to wear away the fiberglass will precipitate into the water. From there it’ll impregnate (temporarily) into your skin causing to itch. The best solution for this issue is to take a really hot shower to open your pores, scrub really well, then turn on the cold water to close them. I have had positive results with wiping the affected areas with a dryer sheet. I do this after I apply warm water to the area to open the pores.
Cercarial Dermatitis: Cercarial Dermatitis is the medical name for “swimmers itch.” This is a more uncommon thing to cause itching but it does happen. It’s basically an infection with from parasites from affected mammals, snails, or birds. You’ll see some skin irritations such as pimples or feel a continuous need to itch. The solution to this is to keep your water chlorinated so it kills the parasites before they affect you!
Those are just some of the more common causes.
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