Woman Who Could Be Allergic to Favorite Things Is ‘Choosing Denial’

A woman who tried to take care of her health sincerely regrets asking a doctor about a rash on her eyelid and has decided to choose “denial.”

Hillary Weiss Presswood, 35, went viral on TikTok when she shared the story of how she learned she may have to give up her favorite things: gold jewelry and artificial nails.

In a clip shared on May 9 to her account @hillarydisco, which has been viewed over one million times, Presswood said she had just come from her first-ever dermatologist’s appointment for a skin cancer screening and used the opportunity to ask about an itchy patch of skin on her eyelid.

“I’m never going back,” she said. “I never should have said anything.”

She revealed that the doctor told her that the eyelid rash was caused by an allergy to one of two things: either a product in acrylic nail products or gold. “Two of the things that make my life very much worth living,” she said.

Presswood wore acrylic nails and gold jewelry on her ears, neck, and fingers while making the video. She also has a collection of antique and vintage gold at home.

“I’m gonna ask my boss if I can have some bereavement leave for this,” she joked.

“I shouldn’t have asked,” she said. “So anyway, I will be making no lifestyle changes.”

Speaking to Newsweek, Presswood, who lives in New Jersey, said she decided to use her first trip to the dermatologist’s to “blurt out every question” she had.

After being cleared for skin cancer from a routine check, she “basically went down a little laundry list in my head about medical grade skin care, Botox, and, oh yeah, this weird itchy spot on my eyelid that comes and goes and I’ve had it for years.”

After being told it could be her nails or gold, she said the “reality of the potential cause ran me over like a freight train,” but she added: “Unfortunately, I think he’s right.”

Stressing that she is aware her predicament is “incredibly low stakes compared with everything else going on in the world,” she said her nails and gold jewelry are “two really strong and recognizable parts of my identity.”

She explained: “I’ve been getting my nails done since I was 16 and have been an amateur vintage and antique jewelry collector for about six years now.

“My nails and jewels are two of the first things you notice about me, so it was a hard pill to swallow that I might need to make some adjustments in the future—especially if my eye gets worse.”

According to DermNet, anyone can develop an allergy to acrylates, a product found in gel and acrylic nails, but beauticians and women who get artificial nails are among those at greatest risk.

Ninety percent of all diagnoses of gold allergies are in women, DermNet says, suggesting “this is probably due to women typically wearing more gold jewelry and having more piercings than men.”

For now, Presswood said she will go for a more formal allergy test and is hoping the issue is more likely to be in the nails than the gold. One positive thing she’s taken from the experience is how viral her video has gone, which she says “cracks me up.”

Hundreds of people commented on the clip sharing their own dermatologist horror stories, with one TikTok user recalling how she was told during a mole check that she had “female pattern baldness.”

“My allergist told me if I wanted to stop being congested all the time maybe I should think about giving away my dogs whom I’m allergic to. I told him I rather be a mouth breather,” another commenter wrote.

One TikTok user joked: “They lying, trying to keep you from living your life. DONT LET THEM WIN!”

Presswood said the online reaction was “a good reminder that the internet is, above all, a deeply silly place.”

And for anyone in a similar situation, she advised: “Go see your dermatologist about that eyelid itch! If there’s anything I learned from the comments, it’s that a TON of us are out there rubbing our eyelids daily.”

She finished: “And just remember kids: you can always choose denial.”

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