Wetsuits and neoprene allergies

[jswantek]

I have a friend who is seriously interested in scuba diving, but has had an allergic reaction to neoprene (knee brace) in the past. Is anyone aware of any problems with allergic reactions of this type and what can be done?

 

[fnfalman]

Sounds like a drysuit candidate to me. If you're allergic to something, the only thing to do is to avoid it. Me for example, I am allergic to titanium alloy. My skin breaks out in rash if comes into contact with titanium alloy.

 

[jswantek]

I should have put this in the original post, a drysuit is NOT an option at this time...

 

[Luis H]

In the late 70ÃÔ I bought a suit made with out of (nitrogen expanded) silicone rubber rather than neoprene. It was made by Imperial Turtle and they called the material Glowflex.

The rubber was laminated on both sides with nylon fabric, just like most wetsuits now a day. Most edges were finished in a way that you didnÃÕ see the rubber material, but in a few places you could see the bright orange silicone rubber material.

My wet suit was a two piece (all wet suits were two piece back then) farmer John bottom, beaver tail top and all the material was 5/16 thick. It was still very flexible as compared to other suit at the time.

The suit was great, but I outgrew it a long time ago. I wish I still had it.


I donÃÕ believe anyone makes anything anymore with anything but neoprene.

I would think that using a skin suit under the wet suit, in combination with the nylon laminate, it should isolate him/her enough. I would try some rental suit, just for test purpose.

Another suggestion is to call some of the large wetsuit manufacturers like Henderson and see if they have any recommendations. They might have run into this in the past. Henderson in particular has several different suits with different interior coatings. They may have something that would work.

 

[captain806]

I have the allergie your friend has and the options are limited, I am not a diver but a rescue swimmer/Ice/ swift water. And I can only use a dry suit. The only way I can use neoprene is to not allow water to go trough the neoprene, to my skin at all, so for gloves I use latex free surgical gloves under the cold water gloves, and a under armor cold hood under a neoprene divers hood (the hood part I am still experimenting with). have not been able to find a hood non-neoprene. This allergie is caused to my understanding by the chemicals used to cure the neoprene. The first and last time I wore neoprene glove, suit, boots, I spent 3 days in the hospital and took 6 months to clear up. I wish there were more manufacurers who were committed to solving this problem. and forgot to add my drysuit has attached socks so I can where neoprene boots. Good luck "stay safe'