Dr. Lubitz Diagnoses Allergy of Yankees’ Alex Verdugo
NJ Advance Media spoke to Dr. Arthur Lubitz regarding Alex Verdugo’s recent allergic issues with his gloves. Dr. Lubitz speculates that Verdugo could be allergic to the ink of his many tattoos covering the chest and the arms.
“It’s probably the tattoos,” said Dr. Arthur Lubitz, a Manhattan-based allergist who has been a Yankees fan since the late 1950s. “It’s very rare, but the tattoos are made of metal ink and you can get a tattoo allergy to the metal.” When Dr. Lubitz was contacted by NJ Advance Media, he asked if Verdugo had multiple tattoos. Told that he did, Dr. Lubitz recommended Verdugo call him or ask his doctor about being treated with Dupixent, a biologic drug that’s been on the market since 2017. “I would recommend Dupixent as a long-term treatment because it’s the only thing that really heals it,“ Lubitz said. “If you just use ointments, it doesn’t work. Dupixent is an injectable shot and works very well for this. It could cure this.”
Verdugo was intrigued and is considering the injections.
Dr. Lubitz said that he’s had plenty of dealings with similar symptoms over the years, one involving a celebrity patient. “A drummer for a very famous rock band had the same thing,” he said. “He used to sweat into his leather vest and he also was allergic to leather. He had a rash on his chest. The guy had a lot of tattoos. Tattoos are made of cobalt and of nickel to give the pigments. And if you have a lot of tattoos, it’s rare but sometimes your body can be sensitized. And then if the batting gloves are blue or black and they have cobalt and there’s chromate on the glove, they can cross-react. And then if this guy has tattoos all over, you can get a tattoo allergy to the metal.
“So if Alex has an underlying sensitivity to contact dermatitis, and then on top of it, he’s got tattoos, and then on top of that, he uses a colored batting glove, that can add up. And also because he’s a hitter and he’s in the field, he sweats during the hot days, and that accelerates the reaction. So he’s probably got the allergy on his fingers and on his hands.
“Then on top of it, he’s got to get a good grip to try to hit a 100-mph fastball, so you get hand eczema. Once you have hand eczema, because we’re always washing our hands, you lose the oils on your skin and it becomes hand dermatitis.”
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