Woman, 25, Is Allergic to Water: ‘My Scalp Would Be Bleeding After Showering’

A 25-year-old woman from Fresno is allergic to water, a rare condition that causes her to break out in welts and hives — even from her own tears and sweat.

"I would come out of showers and have huge welts on my skin, and my scalp would be bleeding after showering,” Tessa Hansen-Smith told ABC-30 about her allergy, Aquagenic Urticaria, which she developed when she was 8 years old.

The allergy “is a rare condition in which urticaria (hives) develop rapidly after the skin comes in contact with water, regardless of its temperature,” the National Institute of Health says. And while its causes are unknown, “it most commonly affects women.” 

Her mom, Dr. Karen Hansen-Smith, is a family medicine physician and the first person who realized her daughter had a water allergy — after years of testing by specialists. 

"I feel a little guilty as a mom for not having seen when she would get out of the shower that she had hives, and figuring it out way earlier that it was a water issue," she told ABC-30.

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Tessa says if she drinks water, or eats anything with a high water content, she feels a burning sensation — so she mostly drinks milk, as its water content is counterbalanced by fats and proteins.

As for showering, she shared on Instagram that “I’ve cleaned my body with wet towelettes designed for it here and there, but even then those hurt.”

While she avoids activities that cause her to sweat and explains “I can keep body odor to a minimum by shaving and using deodorant where appropriate,” Tessa says that she does sometimes need a shower even though “I don’t do a whole lot that makes me very dirty, because I can’t.”

“Standing in a shower for more than 5 minutes, while also trying to not pass out as I hyperventilate while there’s water hitting me, is not a relaxing self-care experience like it can be for others,” she explains.

Because it’s such a rare illness — it's estimated that less than 250 people worldwide have Aquagenic Urticaria according to the ABC report — Tessa says people are often skeptical, and try to test her allergy, as was the case when she was an undergrad at University of California’s Davis campus.

"When I did tell people about it in college, I would have people try to purposely splash water on me, or I would have people who would throw ice cubes at me," Tessa said.

She moved back home when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and managed her condition by staying mostly indoors — until recently, when she was so dehydrated she developed ischemic colitis, which the Mayo Clinic says happens when “blood flow to part of the large intestine is temporarily reduced.”

While hospitalized for her ischemic colitis, Tessa experienced complications, explaining on Instagram that “this led to multiple superficial blood clots and at least one deep blood clot in my right arm.”

The hospitalization also left Tessa needing physical therapy to recover — and left her family with staggering debt.

“We are now struggling to pay my medical bills and make ends meet,” she wrote in a GoFundMe established to help pay their current and future costs.  

And while she’s explained on Instagram that “I’m not getting any healthier because my condition just progresses,” Tessa is still looking to the future and hopes to become a nurse. 

"I hope that I can go back to school again, I hope that I can get a job again,” she told ABC-30. 

“I hope that I can kind of find a sense of normalcy in life again.”