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Alpha hydroxy cream triggering headaches
Hi people
I have come across something rather odd and am putting feelers out to see if anyone can possibly help me.
Has anyone heard of an alpha hydroxy cream triggering a headache? I know of two people this has happened to when spot treating pimples. With both people the headache was described as “sharp and intense” and only happened on the side of the head that was treated with the cream. Also, when a vitamin A (retinyl palmitate) moisturiser was applied after the AHA cream the headache intensified. Both people were using new tubes of cream opened before their Open Before date.
These are the ingredients in the Alpha Hydroxy Cream (in order):
- aqua
- caprylic/capric triglyceride
- hydrogenated palm oil
- glycolic acid
- stearic acid
- glyceryl stearate
- PEG-100 stearate
- ammonium hydroxide
- polysorbate 40
- cetyl alcohol
- dimethicone
- lactic acid
- xanthan gum
- disodium EDTA
I have done a little research so far but nothing I have found has been able to tell me much, except for a possible build up of stearic acid in their systems.
Can someone please point me in the right direction?
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7 Replies
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I did a quick search in Google Scholar and didn’t find anything related to alpha hydroxy creams causing headaches.
You would not get stearic acid into your system through a topical cream.
I would be skeptical of personal anecdotes but if those people had a problem using the cream they should be talking to a health professional.
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Look into the formula, I found ammonia hydroxide. Expose to ammonia can cause headache.
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@attapol it can cause headaches if you inhale it, in relatively large quantities; a highly acidic cream will not have enough volatile ammonia to have an effect
it sounds to me like headache is by caused a trapped nerve or something similar, that’s been triggered by the pressure of applying the cream; I agree with @Perry, the user needs to see a doctor about this
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Thanks for that guys.
I thought the stearic acid/ammonium hydroxide thing would be an outside but unlikely possibility. I wasn’t entirely sure though and needed some confirmation and other ideas. Looks like they may both need to see a doc about it!
@Bill_Toge i’m extremely sceptical it could be to do with a trapped nerve, the pressure applied shouldn’t be enough. Both headaches started within 5 minutes of application and the cream had been applied to freshly squeezed pimples, that’s why i’m more inclined to believe it was something to do with the cream.
I’m now wondering if it could have reacted to something on the skin as well? Both people work outdoors around various chemicals, one is a farmer and the other is in a vineyard… -
Both people work outdoors around various chemicals, one is a farmer and the other is in a vineyard
Farming chemicals are horrendous compared to what’s in cosmetics -
I think either that ammonium hydroxide in cosmetic products do not cause the headache in this case as it should be used in very low quantity. I just see the ingredient list and found it has the effect of the headache.
If user had underlying disease like migraine ,many factors can trigger it,and one possibility is about perfume in beauty products. (did not see in the ingredient)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23832131
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17403039Agree , that they should go to see a doctor.
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> I’m now wondering if it could have reacted to something on the skin as
well? Both people work outdoors around various chemicals, one is a
farmer and the other is in a vineyard…just an fyi, being slathered daily with chemicals, can actually induce a sensitivity to trace amounts. chlorine, and ammonia being two as I recall. i.e. your two friends should have an allergy test to see if they’ve become sensitized to common chemicals.
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