https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6450-4764
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Sareena Gajebasia, Sanaa Butt, Andrew Affleck, Living with multiple chemical sensitivity during the COVID‐19 pandemic: a patient's perspective, Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, Volume 47, Issue 5, 1 May 2022, Pages 963–964, https://doi.org/10.1111/ced.15098
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Patient viewpoint
One positive outcome for sufferers of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) during the COVID‐19 pandemic is the fact that face masks can be worn without getting stares and rude comments from the general public. As the condition is not well known, prior to the pandemic, wearing a mask in public was a cause of great anxiety for myself and I am sure for many other sufferers too. Therefore, previously I would not use my mask when in public. Now it is the opposite way; if you are not wearing a mask you receive stares and comments.
One downside to the pandemic, and there are many, is the use of all the chemicals, such as hand sanitizers and the variety of chemicals used to clean and sterilize everywhere we go, for example, in shops, banks, restaurants, cafés and hospitals. It is very embarrassing when every time you enter a shop or a bank, for example, you are asked to use the hand sanitizer and you have to explain that you are chemical sensitive and cannot use it. Being sensitive to all the chemicals being used at the moment does present problems as it causes more symptoms more often than would normally occur.
