This has been a great thread. A brief background on myself - I'm one of the unbearably itchy, swollen eyelids/eye area victims. I was given steroid cream that helped completely, but I can't stay on it forever. So, a few weeks ago, I went through the patch test, and nickel/cobalt was the only thing that flared up (and boy howdy, did it). Got some non-steroidal creams to try, but so far nothing is solving the problem.

I'm just starting the try the diet, but it is, as you all know, extremely difficult. It took me two hours to grocery shop, and I still think I ended up with some of the "maybe not" foods. (Question - is all vegetable oil - sunflower, safflower, canola - a "no"?)

Seems like everyone is a little different with their food allergies. I've looked around and I'm going with the Penn State diet list (I think it was mentioned). It inlcludes the usual suspects. I'm hoping that just these ingredients will do the trick and eliminate the symtoms, but if not, the suggestions here have been very informative. I'm especially mourning the loss of black tea and spinach/veggies. And I'm really not ready to give up my red wine, but... My eyes itch and hurt and are completely horrible to look at!!!

Thanks for starting this thread, Rhapsody. I'll be sure and post again if I have any significant discoveries.