<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Thanks to all of you who responded.  Your answers were thoughtful and
helpful.

A summary of what you all said follows:

*       A number distinguished between just CD and CD + DH saying that
people with DH likely need to be more careful to be GF in skin care
products especially with active blisters, rash, etc.  Some said, in
their experience or reading, people with DH should be GF all the time.

*       The other major point was that any products that could be
ingested should be avoided.  People differed on what they thought might
be ingested.  Many believed only lipstick (from me and my boyfriend -
chapstick that is).  Some said that they believed that other products
were likely ingested in small amounts, i.e., shampoos through nose,
mouth, tear ducts.  An interesting thought was that many skin care
products are made to cling to the skin and last for a while.  This may
mean that eating finger food later, which I often do for breakfast,
could be a source of ingestion.

*       A number said that Celiacs may have sensitive skin in general
and may be reacting to some other allergen.

*       A number said not to worry, that in their experience they had no
trouble using personal products with gluten in them, with the exception
of lipstick.

I talked with my doctor about this this afternoon and he felt that there
was a slim chance that in certain circumstances gluten from personal
products could enter my bloodstream and cause problems.  We decided that
I will take the following approach.  I am going to go GF on all products
until I am symptom-free, relatively speaking.  Then I will add back one
product at a time and see how I react.  I've been so sick for 3 months
and had severe neurological complications that I'm not going to take any
risk at this point.

A couple of people asked me about my mention of a "butterfly rash."  My
understanding is that many people who suffer from an untreated
autoimmune disease develop this type of rash.  It is a face rash
(redness with or without dryness) that is in the shape of a butterfly on
the sides of the nose, up the bridge of the nose and over the eyebrows.
My doctor friend said that in medical school they taught him to use the
presence of this rash as a potential clue for an autoimmune problem.

I hope this summary has been as helpful to others as your comments were
to me.  Again, thanks so much.  It's good to know that I'm in this with
a lot of others who have gone before!

Jody

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*