Warning about nail tabs + has anyone's allergy "evolved" to other strains?
So I found out I have this allergy last month after half a year of playing around with DIY gel nail kits and getting the gel on my bare skin. I've also never had my nails done at a salon. Had I known that you can develop this allergy, I would've been more careful or just avoided it all together. I'm waiting to get an appointment for a patch test to determine exactly which types or strains of acrylates I'm allergic to, but that's likely going to take a year of waiting (welcome to the Canadian healthcare system). The allergy has presented itself as hives, inflamed cuticles, and itching on my fingertips. The two months before this started, I was experiencing mild onycholysis (which should've been the first warning sign) but attributed that to constantly peeling off the gel and not an allergy.
The gel polish that I was using and had a reaction to contained ethyl acrylate, so that's definitely one out of who knows how many strains. I've been doing some research on the difference between polymers, copolymers, HEMA etc and how copolymers are safer. Since then I've also looked up as many of the labels on my skincare products as well, but that's been challenging since I use a lot of Asian beauty cosmetics that don't readily have the ingredients list. Been fortunate enough so far to not have a reaction to those, retinols, vitamin C, airpods, and all the other everyday items that the unfortunate souls have reported to be allergic to. Now my biggest fear is whether or not I can "become" allergic to these eventually.
I recently wore press-on nails with nail sticky tabs which I've never had a reaction to in the past and were supposedly deemed safe. However, after having them on for 6 hours, removing them, then taking a shower, I noticed my fingers were itching again the same way I'd be reacting to acrylate. The itching lasted for about half a day and definitely not as bad as with the gel. I then reviewed where I bought the tabs from in bulk (Temu) and found out that these ones actually and somehow contained acrylic acid and ethylhexyl acrylate. These are the same standard kinds where you'll receive when buying a set of press-ons from sites like Aliexpress, Shein. I was sooo angry that I might have to even give up press-ons now and was in denial, so I did my own patch test confirmation by sticking a thumbnail-sized nail sticky tab on my ankle skin. I kept it on all day and removed it, and 3 days have passed now with no reaction or redness so now I'm confused over what happened. I suspect that because I washed my hands a few times while wearing those nail sticky tabs along with the press-ons, that might have triggered something as my foot was dry the entire time during the patch test.
I also have strip lash adhesive that I use seldomly that contains Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Sodium Acrylate Copolymer, Methylacrylate-Acid. I used it last when I was dealing with onycholysis with no reaction which was over a month ago and before I started having more severe symptoms, and am debating on whether I should patch test it again before using it or just toss it out completely.
My main question is, how worried should I be that I can become allergic to other strains of acrylates? Can anyone share their experiences?