mango mouth

Yesterday was a sad, sad day for me.  After 3 days of an insanely itchy face and lips (on top of recovering from a cold, mind you) I came to the conclusion that I’m allergic to one of my most favorite fruits!

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I’ve written quite a few blog posts involving the mango, like how-to slice and dice mango, mango in grilled cheese, quesadillas, and cottage cheese, just to name a few.

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Heck, I love them so much I even made my own Mango Cheesecake recipe!

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Well, my love died a little bit yesterday morning when, after what felt like Google search #2,643 I realized that the allergic reaction I’ve been experiencing the past few days is courtesy of the mango… more specifically the mango peel.

Apparently mango is in the same botanical family as poison ivy. The peel and sap from mango contain the same oil, urushiol, that causes a similar autoimmune response caused by its 3 shiny-leafed relative. It’s commonly referred to as mango mouth (go on, laugh) and is fairly common in people who are highly sensitive to poison ivy, moi included.

I found a couple photos (here, here & a more severe case here) for those interested in seeing what this reaction may look like.  The first two are pretty mild cases from what I saw but similar to what I experienced.  The skin around the mouth gets dry, flaky, itchy, bumpy and actually weeps like poison ivy. I can tell you that the itching and burning feels 10x worse than it looks.

From what I understand (and according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology), I can still eat mango as long as I steer clear of the peel and sap.  This also means not eating the fruit out of the skin like I regretfully did this past weekend. FAIL. Wearing rubber gloves or having a friend slice up the mango might be the way to go in the future but I think I’ll avoid them entirely for a little while. I’m still slightly scarred from this experience.

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After a quick trip to the doctor yesterday, I’m feeling and looking much better thanks to a little tube of steroid ointment that looks no different than my favorite shiny lip gloss. I was able to determine my sensitivity to mango by reading other blog posts and photos and hope this post can help others in the future!

Have you ever heard of this sensitivity to mango peel before?

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  • Yes, a friend has that reaction. My sister has that reaction to Mango’s
    and now bell peppers. We used to make homemade pizza and we’d cut up and eat some of the raw peppers. Years later she’s making it with her sons and her hands, mouth and face are swelling. She can’t touch raw bell peppers but she can eat them cooked.

  • For years I had symptoms of oral allergy syndrome when mango season arrived. Mostly had swollen and itchy lips and mouth, which was very painful. A few years ago, I came across an easy protocol for avoiding the allergy symptoms.

    Although talking to a medical practitioner is a good idea, I had talked with my MD who want aware of this protocol.

    To avoid a reaction, wash the mango with soap and water, cut off the stem, peel the mango entirely or score the inside of the mango and remove it from the skin, Don’t touch (or eat) the peel. You may want to wear rubber gloves. Don’t suck or gnaw on the pit. After eating that delicious fruit, wash your hands and face thoroughly.

    As soon as I followed these instructions, no more mango mouth :-)

  • My adverse reaction to mango is internal not external. I get blisters inside my mouth and my entire gut aches until whatever I ate that had mango in it passes. Then as the blisters recede, I have a very sore mouth for almost a week. It feels like the pain you get after not waiting long enough to take that first bite of pizza. This time what I ate is not known to have mango in it so now I’m wondering if anything else edible is in the mango avoidance category. Anyone have any ideas?

  • Hello, I have lived with bad bad allergies my whole life. And averse sensitivities. That what you have us a contact sensitivity. I know I get it so bad I blister up. I look like a puffer fish when I have eaten mangos. Just I can tell you a secret. Use a lip gloss made with no flavoring. Or vaseline. Put is all around the outside of your mouth before trying to eat mango. Oh and put it on your lips. I will tell you how it isn’t a allergy and only a sensitivity. If it was a allergy inside your mouth, in your throat also your intestinal tract would of been inflamed too. It was a contact sensitivity caused from the juice of the mango touching your skin or lips. So what you do is block that contact when ever you eat one. If you still react a little just means you need a better cover. One thing I do. I don’t lick my lips while eating one. Hard to do. Just you can do it. Other thing. No juice can come in contact with lips or skin. So be very careful. Btw, you should be able to eat dried mangos if from ripe fruit. Green ones still can break you out.

  • I’m having mango mouth right now and it does not feel and look great! I have school to attend to and my mouth looks disgusting! How can I solve this quick? Please someone answer! I would appreciate it very much!

    • I’ve used blistex cream that comes in a little tube. It dried out my rash within a matter of days, and relieved some of the discomfort

  • My husband is suffering from mango allergy right now. Another site mentioned using honey for the itch – and it works! Also aloe mixed with some tea tree oil = helps with itch and inflammation. Not perfect but some much needed relief naturally

  • OMG! This has been plaguing me for years! I have been so depressed, isolated, frustrated, scared, confused and distraught over this rash. Mine has been practically constant for a few years now. The culprit? Frozen mangoes in my morning smoothie, with cashew milk! Double whammy! Wow! I did an allergy test and did not test allergic to mangoes or cashews. I found this article that touches upon why we can test not allergic to something that we, in fact, are very allergic to. It is an interesting read for those who want to dive in deeper.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3206236/

    I have spent thousands of dollars on allergy tests, doctor visits, facials, trying various products, throwing away various products, changing diet completely! UGH! To think, it might just be this simple as to not eat mangoes and cashews. Funny thing is I tested allergic to almonds so I stopped drinking almond milk and started drinking cashew milk! OOPS! :(

    I am in a full blown reaction right now, and have been constantly for the past 6 months. The rash is in the same spot on the sides of mouth/laugh lines (I’m not laughing) on chin, some smaller bumps on forehead and some on cheeks. The chin, sides of mouth and nose area are the worst. I’ve been treating it as if it were perioral dermatitis because that is what my dermatologist said years ago. I am SO glad I didn’t take antibiotics because that would have just wrecked havoc on my system and not solved the problem because I probably would have taken them with my mango smoothie! :)

    I have been lead down so many rabbit holes on this journey. I am SO thankful for your post on this topic. Ironically I just went to my naturopath yesterday and decided to make some dietary changes in case it was something I was eating that I didn’t know about. I switched to walnut milk this week and I didn’t use mangoes in my smoothie this morning. I guess my intuition is still on but just a little slow on the uptake. :)

    Wow, what great knowledge to have. Again, so thankful! I wish everyone who reads this a huge sigh of relief and empowerment of knowledge. At least we know. I am praying this is it for me and my rash clears up without me ingesting these foods.

    For those that might want to try a topical, I did read about this product that addresses the Urushiol on the skin, like when we get poison ivy. I just bought it on Amazon so I haven’t tried it yet but every review swears by it and since it is the same family as poison ivy I am quite hopeful. But perhaps just by not ingesting it I will be on the mend. Fingers triple crossed!

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GCPWUU/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Thank you!
    Thank you!
    Thank you!
    Be well,
    Love
    Dove

  • WHY ISNT THIS TALKED ABOUT MORE?!?!?! Poison Oak & Poison Ivy reactions for me start within a couple hours of exposure. Even with Steroids administered within 24 hours of contact, my reaction will still last a couple months. It’s awful. Mangos do the same thing to my lips apparently.

    I have left over hydrocortisone left over which I’ve been using for this allergic reaction (I ate2 mangos last week), it helps, but it’s not going away. Using Carmex too, which kinda helps… it’s not really getting much worse either – which isn’t saying much. Imagine 75 mosquito bites on each of your lips. The itching comes in waves… it’s INSANE.

    Anyways, looking to go get some prednisone cream or something I can safely put on my lips ASAP.

  • Yes I get this too!!! What I have found works is buying Frozen mango. Any residual oil is denatured when frozen. I just let it thaw and it is so good!

        • Some people have a different allergy to mango and can have a type 1 anaphylactic reaction.
          This is far more serious than just the contact allergy reaction, which may also manifest along with the anaphylactic reaction.

  • Thank you! you made my day, i thought i’m dying, i had poison ivy last year, like a LOT 60% of my body, came from Russia to US like 6 years ago and never seen this thing before so treated it as a plant ))) Two days ago was eating my favorite fruit sliced it was lazy to cut it properly and accidentally ate little peel of it !!! next day swollen lip, now eyelid , etc But its Winter in MI noway i got poison ivy again WTH !!!cold sore, HSV, STD, Cancer everything was googled, went to CVS they said doesnt look like things i mentioned !!! may be i ate some strange food , Nuts yes? i was like no way i have allergy for them , i can’t live without them !!! Then little glimpse of sense came across my mind about that mango and OHHH God i googled and came here to find This !!!! I”M alive…..

  • This really helped me:) I’ve been experiencing this reaction for about 2 and a half days now after I realized I ate a mango out of it skin. And (since I have a cold as well) I e been drinking a lot of tea. And I’ve put mango slices in my tea. Wow that’s my epic fail… I have had a cold sore from stress but now I have little red bumps all around my mouth, it itches like poison ivy. And my tongue itches as well. I’ve been cleaning my mouth with hydrogen peroxide, then putting Alevera gel, and rubbing smoothly with ice too. Now I’m putting Carmax lip balm all over my lips for the past 15 hours and still no results. So I’m going to find some cream that will make it go away. Also, yesterday I was at school and got picked up early because I was embarrassed to have red marks in the corner of my mouth. I hope this info helps you!

  • I have had this problem all my life, after you eat a mango wipe you mount with alcohol on a cotton ball..for some reason the rash won’t start..the tingling feeling for the mango enzymes goes away too..

  • Thank you. I have been living in Uganda for 7 months now and on and off I’ve had poison ivy like reactions on my mouth… I’ve had poison ivy 8 times and have been hospitalized for it. I realized my mouth reaction was from mango but was confused because it only happens sometimes… more specifically when I cut the mango instead of my husband. I cut close to the skin of the mango but he digs a little deeper. So enjoy your mango but stay away from the skin!!

  • I am so grateful for your post! I’ve had this exact reaction over the years and I could never figure out what it was. It’s so painful and irritating, it drives me crazy – even more so because I didn’t know why it was happening. Lo and behold, I’ve been eating Atalufo mangoes almost daily lately (they’re in season now and so tasty) and also am in the midst of a terrible outbreak of this tingly/itchy lip thing. And you’re so right – it feels a million times worse than it looks. I’m also highly allergic to poison ivy – this all makes sense now. Thank you thank you thank you!

    • I used blister orange mango chapstick. Ouch ,tongue, lips, and throat affected. Mangoes and poison ivy,oak have urushiol oil that causes allergic reaction. Blister should lbel this product. It has been 2 weekss now & I still look like a Kardashian. Dr gave me prescription for steroid cream . Eager to return to normal. Dangerous product !

    • I lived in Fl. and grew mangoes. Could eat the flesh, but touching it and getting the oil on my skin was awful. I ate it happily if someone would just peel it for me. No ivy allergies. It was the only allergy I ever had. My brother couldn’t even be in a room with them.

      • Hi! Yesterday, my wife developed it recently; a month ago she ate a variety of mango which is eaten along with its peel. She developed a mild angioedema – puffing up around eyes and lips and some itching in the throat. Yesterday she tried another variety of mango; avoided the skin but ate the fruit from the skin – like scraping it with teeth – within few minutes, she had the reaction. Immediately took anti-histamine tablet; the puffiness has reduced by 25% by today morning but to get over it completely, it may take another 48 hrs.
        – Dr Keshav
        Mysore, India

  • After trying every cream over the counter for itching I finally found one that works. Desitin (yes the one you use on baby but rash) applied it around my mouth (yes its white but turns clear eventually) and after a couple of mn the itching completely stopped. I used at least 5 other creams first and nothing else worked. Desitin worked most of the day even after you can no longer see it on the face and I just had to add a little more before bed time. Huge life saver I felt like i was going to scratch my face off and this was my first time having this allergy.

  • I used to eat mangoes as a child.i loved them.Then one day I broke out in a red,itchy rash all over my face,in my mouth And down my throat.the doctor know straight away it was from mangoes.and he was right! I remember being devastated,he said I would grow out of it.I am now 53 and I haven’t grown out of it sadly.I have tried to eat it over the years but I get the same reaction.On Christmas Eve a family remember prepared a fruit platter with some small cubes of mango.I has 3 small cubes and ……..am now suffering the reaction!Not overly bad but uncomfortable when the weather is so hot!

  • I’ve been allergic to mangos for about 10 years now. I also loved them. When I have an allergic reaction, I get the bumps and then my entire face swells if I don’t go to the doctor. My little sister started calling me Mike off of Monster’s Inc. because one time my face swelled so bad I could only see out of one eye.

  • My doctor confirmed this and in fact told to that cashews are in the same family and can also cause allergic reactions. But most importantly, he told me that I am most likely also allergic to latex! To be completely honest, I have often has irritations after a certain pleasurable time and never really thought much of it. But most importantly, it’s good to know in the event you are in the hospital so they don’t use latex on you and injur you or worse!

  • I know this is an older post but Thank you so much!! I didn’t know you could be allergic to mango, thankfully my reaction isn’t as bad as some but I feel so much better knowing about this and I’m staying away from mangos as well for a little while…

  • Hey..
    It’s been since two years that I have been noticing that I get mouth ulcer each time I eat mangoe.
    No one in my family believed that the reason for my ulcers is mangoe, so I thought to read about it. And here I have got so many people to relate to..

    I have made an observation that I would like to share. Mangoe smoothie or mangoes diced into cubes do not cause ulcers to me at least. :)

  • So glad i found this article! I am going through this reaction for the sixth time! A couple years ago i got a terrible bacterial infection on my lips that my doctor thought was an infected cold sore. She prescribed muniprocin. It dried out my lips terribly and left them numb for weeks, but did get rid of the infection. It proceeded to come back every two months for a year until i finally went to an allergist and dermatologist. I was tested for a mango allergy but it came back negative…i still stayed away from mangos. Now it’s a year and a half later and i ate a mango last week, bam, it’s back. Guess i really do need to steer clear.

    • My 19 yr old daughter has mango allergy after eating it for years. She ended up in the Emergency Room with severe swelling of eyes, face, from mango being an ingredient in Johnson & Johnsons Clean & Clear Facial Wash. We wrote to J&J and they label it ore clearly on the ingredient label on the back now. But who would have thought mango was in a cucumber facial wash? It is in other varieties of that line of puts too. It was originally listed as mangosteen. Still, it should be listed more visibly. She gets pumped up with Prednisone when she has a reaction, and doses gradually decrease over about 10 days. Side effects are difficult. Her initial reactions were the lip blistering after ingesting some of the skin. She totally avoids it now. Medicine is the only thing that clears it. Hope this is helpful.

  • I have this right now! My lips are swollen and tiny bumps and they burnn!! What do I do to get rid of it??

    • I just got this, and it’s absolutely ridiculous! How long did it take for yours to clear up, and what did you use to help it?

      • I have been having this problem for so long but something I have noticed that helps mine go away is when I just don’t put anything on it it will just dry out on its own but sometimes I do need some sort of cream or antibiotic depends on how bad the reaction is

  • I am glad I read this. Last year about this same time I was eating at least 4 Atalufo mangoes a day and often more. Then I got this swelling under my eye on the lid that would not go away. I had never had anything like this before and I figured out it was the mango. When I cut out the mango, it went away, and when I added it back it came back again. I wondered if it was a detox reaction from the high fruit content in my diet. It is the time of year again when I go crazy for mango because of a general lack of fresh fruit where I live aside from strawberries (expensive!) and some citrus (decent but not my favorite). Mexican mangoes here are awesome this time and it is one of my favorite fruits. Anyway, I have been eating them frequently (though probably not as many as last year) without an eye stye. However, today I ate three mangoes I peeled but ate whole without chopping them up so I got pulp all over my lower face. My lips started itching and the skin looks a little raw in the corners. I did suck the pit, though I usually do this. I never use rubber gloves and never have a reaction on my hands. So strange. Seems to be the lip area is particularly sensitive, but it makes me wonder what happens to my intestines. I will definitely not be eating mango the way I did today, and will chop it up and stop sucking the pit too to be safe. I know I had a reaction to poison ivy or poison oak when I was a child once, but it is generally something I don’t worry about and don’t have a problem with and I spend a lot of time running around outside in wooded areas. I wish everyone else’s reaction was more mild like mine. If it affected my breathing, made me itch and break out all over, or made my whole face swell so that I needed to seek medical attention I would definitely never touch it.

    • Thank you so much for sharing this – I’m having this reaction now and feel so much better to know the source of it. Atalufo mangoes are in season now and I’ve been eating them daily! So delicious, but I don’t think I’ll ever touch one again after reading this!!!

      • Thank you to everyone who has shared their mango story. I have had itchy, tingling,red lips for the last two days and was really worried. I just now read this blog and know that the mango I cut up and ate right out of the peel two days ago is the culprit. My reaction is mild (like the one above). It seems to just have affected my lips so I am going to try some of the creams and lip balms that you have suggested. I love mangos but do not normally eat them, so it’s comforting to know that maybe if I am careful about how I prepare them, I can still eat them!

  • I get this as well! Luckily it’s not super visible but the edges of lips to get itchy and slightly bumpy. I do love me some mango’s though so I keep eating them. However, if I am really careful, I do not get a reaction. To avoid a reaction, I wash the mango with soup and water, peel it entirely, eat it! and then wash my face thoroughly. If done properly I get no mango mouth!

  • Hey guys, I haven’t ready all the comments so someone might have already Wittenham this. Anyway, I grew up in a north Indian village in 19 80s with mango trees everywhere. We use to go eat mangos every day be it raw or ripe.
    We use to get these terrible cold sores too but only if we were not careful. Meaning it wasn’t because we were allergic but it was because mangoes contain this small quantity of clear liquid close to the stem joint. So if we cut a small portion off the mango near the joint or squeeze this liquid out and wash it properly before eating then it’s all fine.
    so loose the liquid to keep the cold sores.

  • Cashews had the same effect on me. Turns out its apart of the same family (Poison ivy) and I had the same reaction to the oil from the nut.

  • Tecnu (for poison ivy prevention/soothing) works on mango mouth as well. I applied it after eating mango and experienced no sensitivity until two or three days later; then, when I got a fairly mild case of mango mouth, I reapplied Tecnu and it stopped itching/burning. The relief lasted several hours, and when it came back was so mild I didn’t even bother to reapply.

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  • im also allergic to mangos (which I love!) I think it’s ironic how most people LOVE mangos but are allergic to them. :( it really sucks for me because I didn’t eat mango off the skin. im actually allergic to the fruit itself ! :( im only 14 years old but now i have to be careful if I still want to eat them. im thinking about telling my dad to take me to an allergist because I want to find out it I’m allergic to anything else. I really want to go because it looks like I have hives or herpes or something. also my throat feels really tight and its hurting my jaw .

  • I should have listened to my girlfriend last night! I was cutting mangoes and I sucked on the seed part and she warned me not to. I refused and did it anyways -_-

    I woke up feeling like my upper lip was dry almost chapped. I thought maybe it was the weather. So I looked at my lip again and noticed little rash which reminded me of an allergic reaction I had to artichoke recently couple weeks ago that just finally got better! Now I have to deal with this all because I just had to suck on the seed part.At least this allergic reaction is not as bad as the artichoke incident but still even when I knew I shouldn’t have, all i can do is regret it and never do it again! Now im even afraid of making a making mango smoothie – I use to get allergic reaction to peaches too . I guess I can only fruits now through a straw.

  • I knew it! This is the 3rd time in my life where I’ve had a reaction around the mouth after eating a mango like an apple. I had been eating frozen sliced mango for years so I never really knew it was truly related. Thanks for posting, great to know its just an allergic reaction – now I know it’s just the skin. I would die if I couldn’t eat the fruit anymore!

  • god, why?

    before i had never really eaten mangoes. few days ago i too ate mangos that I had bought from whole foods. stay away from mangos! god must have made joke on us to make such tasty fruits have this thorny skin.. .. ow ow ow.. i hope my lips will heal soon from this rash caused by these mangoss…

    • update #2:
      I was wrong – no thorns on the skin.. just something called uroshol oil (same as in poison ivy – as others noted here)…
      I ate 3 mangos like an apple (eating much of the skin too!!) about 8 days ago. I had a lot of swelling on my lips, and above and beneath my lips, and also in my mouth- also headache!! But now after 8 days I feel no discomfort anymore, and on surface of skin/lips there is dry white/yellowish mango-ish flakes coming to surface. I think this will go away completely in 6-7 days. I haven’t had to use any medication – I just waited, and took 1 day off work. I would recommend to anyone who has as bad a case of this as I had, to take off 8-9 days!

      • update#3
        This was completely gone after 3 weeks.

        This is nothing to worry about and no reason to overreact. Just get some rest for first week, and after it will dissapear much like poison ivy. I didn’t use any creams, lotions, or medicines. Just a few times I rinsed my mouth and face, that’s all.. My face was really red while I had this, but now completely back to normal..

        • Thank you so much for your updates! I have it on my top lip and a little speck on my bottom lip’s outer edge. Every morning I wake up it seems to have spread more, but the swelling is not as bad as before, thank goodness. There were yellow flakes when I woke up this morning (4th day of mango mouth) and I’ve been taking a homeopathic medicine by Hyland’s that I got at Whole Foods. Plus I’ve been putting lavender oil on it to keep bacteria out. I also applied a silver sulfadiazine cream on, which a doctor prescribed to me when I had a terrible poison ivy rash a couple months ago. I really hope this will be all gone in a few days.

  • OMG! I have been going through this terrible reaction on my mouth mostly but also some on my cheeks, chin, near the sides of my nose, behind my ears and back of my neck. These are all of the areas that I have had poison ivy in the recent past so I thought that is what it was. It wasn’t until this morning that my friend told me that she found on the internet the info. about Mango Mouth. I have been having this reaction for almost 6 weeks. Yes, some people get it for a few days, but if you are a person who gets poison ivy by looking at it…beware. I have eaten mangos all my life and lived in the tropics where they are prevalent and never had any reaction to them. Unfortunately, as you age your immunity to these types of things can weaken and I had a case of poison ivy 6 months ago that went systemic (into my bloodstream) and I believe that triggered all of the other allergic reactions that I may be having or about to get soon. The most incredible thing is…I DID NOT eat a fresh mango. I ate mango yogurt and every day I drink a small glass of Orange.Peach.Mango juice to wash down my vitamins. Well…let me tell you, as with many of the other comments below, I thought I had poison ivy, then maybe herpes, or possibly shingles. I have never had anything like this before not even a cold sore my whole life. I also read that some nuts also contain this allergin. Please people reading this, be careful about what you think you are not allergic to. Until it happens the first time you just never know. I eat a lot of raw nuts and fruit being a vegetarian, and never have I had this kind of reaction. I now know that it was the very bad reaction to poison ivy that I had last summer that completely CHANGED my immunity to these other things. I don’t take medications or chemicals. I used Burts Bees Hand Sauve to reduce the dryness and oozing. It worked for awhile but then I discovered Burts Bees Diaper Rash Ointment. It has a very high level of Zinc Oxide in it which completely dried up the rash in days after 6 weeks of misery. I also used Rhus Tox Homeopathic which is specifically for rashes and poison ivy. Wonderful. But the whole time I was treating myself I didn’t realize I was reacting over and over to the mango juice and yogurt that I was eating. I thank god for my friend who did the research and found this article about mango allergies. I am so afraid of another reaction I will not eat mango of any kind or any of the Urushiol Oil related foods or products that obviously caused this horrible condition. You have to treat your immune system at the same time you treat topically. I took Echinacea, Lemon balm, and Super Ginseng tinctures internally to boost my immune system. I believe this is essential to the healing process. Good luck everyone.

    • Hey! I know this is an older comment but I wanted to let you all know that i have the same reaction with mangos ….but i am currently suffering with THE WORST reaction after having CASHEW MILK! I’m a bit lactose intolerant (okay more than a bit) so I drink almond milk usually, but I thought I’d give cashew milk a try. BIG MISTAKE. My lips are super swollen and are a bit weepy like a bad poison ivy reaction. I also have various patches of rash all over my body — my left ankle, the crook of my right elbow, my left wrist, etc. I took Benadryl but it only made me tired…so for all you mango mouth victims — WATCH OUT FOR CASHEWS!

  • Yes, I have this same issue. From what I have researched, the mango and poison ivy plants both give off that same, pesky urushiol oil. I, myself, am severely allergic to poison ivy and was as displeased as yourself over the amount of discomfort and grossness coming into contact with the mango peel gave. Wearing rubber-wash gloves helps and I also rinse the pulp portion in leukwarm water.

  • Wooooow this is crazy I thought I was alone!! Mango is also my favorite fruit and I used to always love eating it with the skin and all. For years I would get itchy bump like rash on my hands that always occurred in the summer… even while I was vacationing in DR so I attributed to a heat related reaction. I thought I had it figured out until a year ago when I ate a mango during the winter and broke out. I made a mental note to always peel the skin off since then which has helped… until this past week when I made a mango smoothie with frozen mango. Usually I drank from a straw but didn’t have one that day. I sipped it from the cup and of course my lips got covered in it. Long and behold later that evening had the worst reaction ever from my upper lip to chin, lasted 4 days. Guess I better use a straw next time, I’m not giving up mangos!! Lol. I just stayed indoors and kept the area covered in hydrocortisone to help relieve the itching. Oh and yes when I went to DR I was eating mangos daily, smh.

    • I have never written a comment or response ever. However, I felt compelled, I have a mango grove. I’ve NEVER heard of anyone eating a mango, skin and all! That’s crazy. I too am allergic to mango sap and skin, I’m just very careful. 99.999% of people can eat mango fruit, they must steer clear of the skin. Like anything it’s a badge of honor to proclaim “I’m allergic” no kidding it’s part if the poison ivy family! I have several rash sites on my body now from where the sap got me. It’s itchy, but will be gone soon enough. I don’t know if a photograph of the mangos I collected from the ground yesterday will transfer but I’ll try. If you’ve been allergic don’t go neat the skin, but maybe try the delicious fruit again.

    • I thought I was alone too! I fell in love with mangos the first time I tried them I ate 1…. I was so in love with mangos…I ate 12 of them! I broke out in hives my face swelled really bad. I still didn’t learn my lesson I tried it again but not so many Everytime I tried I kept breaking out but I kept on trying them. So prior to the mango allergy I could eat any fruit or vegetable now I have sensitively to most fruit and vegetables even lettuce. Just recently I ate a salad with blue cheese steak and peacons before bed I woke up and my lips had little fine bumps all over them a few days later I find bumps that are itchy warm and big on my neck and they look weird. I ate a piece of mango about a year and instead of breaking out in fine little bumps they looked like the same bumps. Wth!

  • ****-Most deff. In 2008, my friend had brought a mango to track practice. and everyone tried it bc we never had them before. i so had a bite, including the peel. and NOTHING happened. now i’m pregnant and i was craving a whole mango, including the peel. so I did a bunch of research before i ate it bc i’m pregnant.. and i said you shouldn’t eat the peel bc it has an oil in it that is related to Poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac. some of them symptoms are abdominal pains, skin rashes, skin puffyness, those itty bitty bumps you get when you have poison ivy(for those who have had it before) and a couple other things. I knew i shouldn’t have ate it but i’m pregnant and was craving it and ate it anyways. I had the mango 2 days ago. and i woke up in the middle of the night last night and the skin on my lips had gotten REALLLLY dry and there were those itty bitty bumps on my upper lip. then when i fell back asleep and woke up again this morning, i had really bad abdominal pains but just in one spot. it lasted like an hour or two. but i heard the best thing to do is wash off your face (if you have those bumps or skin rashes) with soap and water, then put some hydrocortisone on there and it really stops the itchy and swelling. at least it did for me.****
    Hope this helped:)

  • I’m going through this reaction right now. I had found out about the possibility of it being an allergic reaction last time it happened, and that if you avoid the skin, the fruit could still be eaten safely.
    So, since I LOVE mango, I decided to try again. This time I washed the mango, then removed the fruit from the skin. I put the cut fruit in the fridge for the next morning. However, I couldn’t resist polishing off what was left around the pit hand to mouth. Mind you, all the skin was gone, so I thought I was safe.
    Nope. Same reaction, slightly worse than last time. So now I’m concerned about eating the fruit at all. I’m thinking that maybe the pit got contaminated with sap from the skin, but I’m not going to try again, because this reaction is so annoying.

    What a bummer to have to remove a favorite healthy food from my go-to list!!

    • It’s not a matter of contamination. The pit is just as bad as the skin for causing allergic reaction. If you must eat mango, try using runner gloves to slice it and remove the pulp from the skin. Then wash the gloves carefully and toss out everything but the pulpy inner fruit. Eat it carefully, being sure not to let it touch your lips. This has worked for me. But please remember: You never know when a very mild allergy can suddenly turn much more intense, causing a severe rash elsewhere on your face, eyes, nose, etc. Good luck.

  • I have this EXACT ordeal happening at this very moment. I am at day 3 since the symptoms showed. bumpy around the corners.. tight sensation on my top lip. It feels horrible.. I didnt even want to open my mouth to talk at work! and i work in retail :'(
    When i was 6-8 i had a mango rash on my upper lip.. and then 6 days ago i ate mangos RIGHT OFF THE SKIN. I LOVE mangos… i can’t give them up but I am never going to eat off the peel ever again. I didnt want to go to the doctors so im just using burts bees lip balm until it goes away.

  • funny thing is that when I was a child I never had an allergic reaction to mango,and now that i’m an adult I am allergic to it.It’s painful when the skin around my mouth becomes flaky and irritated,the best thing for me is applying ice and vaseline.I hate it,mango is the best tasting fruit.

  • Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this!!! This has happened to me once before in May and I am going through it again RIGHT NOW (ahh!!) but I thought for sure it was my husband bringing the poison ivy juices in from his work on his clothing (he is a landscaper). I thought it was weird that it happened again in the same spot (my poor lips) so I decided to do more researching! I just bought mangos this week and that is when my flare up happened and I look just like that second picture. THANK YOU! I would have kept on eating them not knowing that they were the culprit. How sad… I love mangos.

  • I am just getting over my terrible reaction to mango. My lower face and upper chin area swelled up (looked like I had the mumps on my right side) with bumps, burning and itching!!..It flaired up on a Saturday and didn’t abate until about the following Wednesday. I put baking soda/water paste on my skin to pull out the heat. I also dipped towels in ice water and put on rash. That felt good but burning started as soon as I stopped. Then I opened Vitamin E tablets and spread them on rash topically. I also used a lot of my Burt’s Bees lip balm each day. Only once did I use Cortizone cream on it for the itching. It worked like a charm but I did not want to use it more than once. I also took one Advil about the third day to help with the swelling which worked well, too.
    I love mango but will stay away from it from now on even though I believe it is only the skin of the mango that caused this.

  • I’m experiencing this too. No fun. I’m going to miss mango–especially mango gazpacho and Thai Inspired Confetti Salad with mango instead of papaya.

  • I had this rash before and thought somehow I got poison ivy on my face, but when it happened again I was convinced it was a food allergy. My mom kept telling me that it might have been the mango that I ate, but I didn’t want to believe it. Seeing this assures me that I’m not the first person of some new virus.

  • I’m sardonically amused by the picture you linked to of the ‘severe’ reaction. You should see my face right now. THAT’S severe. I have mango rash by my eyes, all over my cheeks, around my mouth, behind my ears, on my chin…blah blah blah. Thanks for the doctor/steroid tip. I think that’s a good plan. Thanks for the article in general. Had I known they were similar to poison ivy, I’d have steered clear, because I get poison ivy like this too.

  • I am in the middle of this rash! (I thought I am in a middle of wart attach or shingle attack). I knew it was mango. I have to put this in my yearly calendar to remind me. I know it is mango because I got this itchy bump on lip now and I am super allegic to poison ivy. My rash break out like a super rash and it takes 2 weeks to heal on my poison ivy. Now my hands are itchy and my private area, my jock edge, my leg, etc everywhere are itchy! One way to get rid of the itch on your hand is to burn it in hot water (as high of a temp that you can withstand ) until it is gone and it helps. Too bad I cant burn my other limp or body parts. I don’t like to take any medicine so I just have to deal with it.

    • I know this is old, but for future readers, this is a terrible idea. Do NOT use extremely hot water without soap to “burn” is away. The reaction is due to Urushiol Oil. You need to wash it off with soap, as you would with any oil for it to be removed from your skin. If you only use hot water, you are warming the oil AND opening your skin’s pores. The oil can and will get in your pores and make for a worse reaction, or increase you risk for systemic (in blood) infection.

  • THANK YOU!!! I’ve been researching and researching this problem I’ve been having — four times since May of this year– and to no avail! The doctor first blamed herpes, then I got a second opinion and it was eczema, which I guess is sort of correct, but it kept coming back! I tried eliminating some foods, some face creams, nothing. But Mangoes! That has to be it. When I was a kid, I got poison ivy rashes constantly, and the doctor told me I was susceptible to it. Now, I’m getting these frustrating itchy rashes around my mouth that can’t be explained…until now, that is. I am so hopeful! I’ve been losing my mind trying to figure this thing out. The relief I feel is immense, and it’s probably pretty evident in my gushing rant right now, but thank you thank you thank you for posting this. I am so glad I put the right words into google to finally stumble upon this.

  • Yes, unfortunately I am in the middle of experiencing a horrible reaction to what I’m pretty sure is mango. I bought a few at my local Whole Foods as they were on sale and cut one to bring to work for lunch…last Wednesday and Thursday. My reaction didn’t begin until this Tuesday, though. I thought I might have a cold sore coming on, but I hadn’t had one in over 10 years so I though it was odd. The next morning I woke up and my lips were 3x their normal size and felt like they had been hit with sandpaper. It has only gotten worse from there and I now have hives covering my upper neck, ears, lower face and even upper arms. I am not a habitual mango eater and this is the first time I peeled one at home. Benadryl has not been helping that much but applying ice packs feels good. I have a call in to my doctor in hopes of getting a prescription for prednisone. Needless to say, I will never touch/eat mango again…

  • Mango3s have been 5 for $5 at my local whole foods and I’ve been eating them daily for 3 weeks, right off the peel. I was thinking my outbreak was stress related or a fungal or bacterial infection. It’s been awful. The doctor asked me right away if I’d changed anything in my diet in the past 3 weeks, and it’s the mangoes. She told me I could take both claritin and benedryl as they both fight histamines differently and within 3 hours the incredibly uncomfortable itching has subsided, and I hope the sores go away soon. What a relief. I’d never had this problem before, but last fall I got poison ivy on 30% of my body and perhaps that made me more sensitive. Gah. I love mangoes!

  • Your post was really helpful! Two or three days ago I ate a mango out of the peel, leaning over the sink and just getting covered in it, and yesterday I began to have little itchy bumps all around my mouth that are driving me crazy! I thought back over what I ate that was unusual, did a google search for “mango allergies” and found this page first. I am normally highly reactive to poison ivy, and found out the hard way that I need to avoid raw cashews (do you know about them?), but didn’t know about mango….. Thank you! I’ll go get out the steroid cream and hope it’s bearable soon!

  • I think this is what’s happening to me now! How long did it take to go away? Is there anything I can do to make it go away faster?

  • I think I have that right now! I’ve been eating mangoes this week (which I love!) but developed what looks like poison ivy on part of my mouth. I thought they were zits but zit cream did nothing and they oozed clear stuff, just like poison ivy. Good to know, thanks!

  • I know this is an old post but I am so thankful i found it!!! i had no idea what the heck was going on with my mouth until I read this….this is exactly what I have! thank you so much for posting this – Im mildly less freaked out now lol.

  • Like you, I love mango. And I like to eat mango from the skin once scored. I have noted tingling before but nothing more until February. My lips were very sore, blisttered and more. At first I thought allergy but when it didn’t settle down I decided I had sun burnt my lips — i was in Cuba at the time. I tried everything including some steroid cream I had. Only this weekend someone coincidentally told me about mango mouth. I now understood!! I googled mango mouth and found you. Thanks for posting.

  • OMG! Thank you so much for this post! With mango season in full tilt right now and the trees full of them (I live where they grow), I’ve been eating mangos like a maniac, 2-3 per day. No problem. But 2 days ago I happened to get a piece of peel in my mouth (I too just eat them quartered and off the skin) and now my lips and corners of my mouth are a mess. I’m so glad to know it’s the peel as it would kill me to give up mangos. But boy do they burn and itch, even my face is starting to itch. I guess I will have to slice them off the skin or find other methods to consume them. Again, thanks for the post!

  • I’ve having the same reaction when I eat Mangoes. These are one of my favorites too! They are just so yummy!
    Even though I get this from time to time, I get tempted when I see a full box of them at the grocery store, all yellow and beautifully ripened! But every time, same reaction.. I didn’t know what it was until now! …my Mom did tell me before that it could be an allergic reaction, but I dismissed it as I did not want to believe it!
    I also noticed that this happened when I ate fresh Mangoes compared to the pre-cut, frozen Mangoes I sometimes buy.
    This explains so much!

  • Halleghluha!!!! Omg my son has had this horrible rash we thought was impetego and he has been eating mangos all week! I’m not kidding!!

  • Add me to the list too! Make sure to look at lip balms if you use those. I got a great “lip butter” one a year or so ago and they had changed the formula to include Mango butter. Doh. Talk about itchy lips….

  • This is exactly what has happened to me, now twice. The first time was in the summer and I like you, sucked the “meat” out of the shell as if I was eating an artichoke. The next day, I thought I had sun poisoning. Two days ago, same thing and then realized, it had to be the mango! GRRRRRRRRRRRR! My lips are puffy, been taking benadryl.

    • Just an update. The day after I wrote the comment above, I was taken to the ER. My lips and face blew up. “poison ivy” all over my lips. i was put on prednisone and benadryl. Also given an injection to get it into my system faster. GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

  • OMG!!! This is exactly whats going on with me now. I woke up the other day with 2 red patches coming out of the corners of my mouth. So I started putting Hydrocortizone one them. Next day, I woke up with swollen lips with little bumps all over. Then I started getting irritation on the left side of my face. Last night I started getting bumps all over my left eye. I honestly thought it was fever blisters. My mom thought maybe I was having an allergic reaction to something. I know that I didn’t eat anything “new” so I changed all my facial products, and toothpaste. So while sitting here this morning, all itchy. I Googled “tiny bumps on lip” it brought me to a forum and someone mentioned a reaction to Mango’s. So I Googled that, and sure enough everything matched with what I’m going through, and I remembered I ate a Mango the other day. It was only half ripe, and I didn’t want to wait anymore so I peeled it, and ate it. From now on, I will make sure that it’s fully riped, and I will have someone else cut it up for me. But I’ve been taking Benedryl, and using Hydrocortizone so hopefully it will clear up within the next few days.

    • im just figuring out that this last few days i have mango mouth it started as white bumps on my lips so i tryd to hide it with facial hair 3 days later ( dismorning ) my left eye is swollen lips got worse ears hot and ichy an a few bad red patches i used blistex for a day or to and it burned what should i use on my lips

  • I have this terrible allergy too!! I blogged about it here: http://lovelaughlivewell.blogspot.com/2011/05/mango-allergy-fruit-that-destroyed-my.html Have you had any since then? I had it once or twice (after having someone cut it for me) and still had a reaction although it was much less severe. I was so sad because I was loving on champagne mangoes. It kind of came out of nowhere too because I had ate them before. I’ve read that cashews are also in the same family so now I’m nervous about eating them too. Such a bummer that we have to miss out on this delicious fruit!

    • Sad! Mango was my new favorite fruit up until I realized I was allergic and it also came out of nowhere over the course of a year. I’ve had it accidentally once in a salad (I didn’t touch it to my lips or contact the peel so I went with it) but the itchy face and swelling started within a couple of hours. I also had a mango mochi ball from Trader Joes (also one of my favorite treats) and woke up with swollen lips! :( I did have allergy testing done to confirm it wasn’t going to end me up in the ER and it was diagnosed as contact dermatitis allergy. At least we’re not alone!

  • When I was in Kuwait before our deployment to Iraq in the Army I ate a large mango they had there, and I guess I was a really sloppy eater, because a day or two later my face swelled up, one of my eyes was almost completely swollen closed. I basically looked like a boxer who had gotten beaten in a fight. I had all these yellow flakes peeling off my face, it was awful. The only good thing is that I got a couple of days bed rest and missed some time at the firing ranges in the 90 degree heat. If I could figure out how to post one of the photos I have I would.

    • At the time the Army doctors thought it was a staph infection from it being windy and sandy and that it possibly cut my face and infected it. But I had had similar reactions before and realized it happend only when I ate mango, and not everytime, and i’m perfectly fine drinking mango juice, and eating pieces of it by accident, its only when I come in contact with the skin.

  • After reading about your allergies it will certainly make me view my own allergies a lot differently now. I have come to realize that I have developed allergies to certain substances and I am not very happy to make that discovery especially since one of the items is an ingredient used in acrylic paints. I love dabbling in painting to reduce my stress levels and have converted the small spare room into a painting room. Problem is a few minutes after I enter the room I am attacked by bouts of sneezing, my eyes start watering, and I have to leave the room. I thought ventilating the room would work and am disappointed to realize that it is not very effective. Looks like I will have to learn to just live with it or give it up. I think I will go with the former. Thanks for sharing your experience with allergies. Allergic Reaction

  • Hey,

    I have been recently diagnosed with the same thing. I saw my doctor today because these bumps on my lips started to appear… they feel tingley and itchy but this happens sporadically but there is no pain which is good. My doctor ruled out herpes on the spot so I was totally relieved, anyway he suggested I take a long acting non-drousy allergy medicine such as zyrtec. I guess the only thing to do now is wait it out, but I was wondering how long this typically lasts.

    Let me know,
    Thanks

  • I thought I had herpes for the last few days! I have never had a cold sore in my life and the rash was spreading and itchy as hell. I basically dug my entire mouth into a mango and much of it was still on the skin. I’m nearly positive that it was the fresh mango and not the ugly thing I thought it was! Yes!

  • Thank you so much for posting this. I have been searching like crazy to find out what could be causing this rash, and through google came across your blog. The pictures you posted, as well as the description, is it exactly! And I’ve just recently started eating mangos about two weeks ago (they quickly became my new favorite fruit). Not only would I eat it down to the skin, but I would suck on the pit. No more! That’s a bummer, but the itchy sore lips are not fun. Any idea on how long it will take to start to clear up?

  • Just got diagnosed yesterday. I’m on a 14 day oral Prednisone taper. What a crazy thing! Sad times indeed – I LOVE mangos! Not sure if I’ll work up the courage to eat them again. Thanks for your post, its somewhat comforting to know that I am not alone!!

    • Sad! Happy my experience helped you figure out your allergy though. I almost bought a mango yesterday for my fiancé to cut for me but decided against it since I’m on vacation… Maybe I’ll have the courage soon :)

  • I’m allergic to all pit fruits…. peaches, apricots, plums, cherries… even raw almonds (which are related to the peach pit). And of course, mango. It was in something I ate one time, and while I didn’t react like you, my chin did go numb, and my lips buzzed!

  • Hey Elle! It is funny you should mention this. Mango is the only thing I’ve found that I’m allergic to….other than poison ivy. I got really bad mango mouth in Hawaii on a family vacation. Thankfully, I was in elementary school so I wasn’t self conscious enough at that time to be embarrassed by the rash. I’m glad yours is feeling better :)

  • Hi Elle,

    I have this same allergy to mango. In fact, I was first exposed to poison ivy and had zero reaction. The second time I was ‘exposed’ to poison ivy was when I picked a mango off of my family’s tree in the backyard. It took us a while to find out why I had gotten hives EVERYWHERE when I had been in contact with the ivy exactly 21 days earlier (my friends all broke out in the hives that very night of contact and I was the only one left unharmed). I went to a dermatologist and the first thing he asked me was if I had been in contact with mango in those last 21 days. Mango is also my favorite fruit, but the allergy is not the end of the world because I can still eat mango all I want. I just can’t touch the skin, like you said. No more mango tree picking for me.

    Separate from the poison ivy/mango allergies I have, I also have a very common food allergy to a lot of different fruits. I can’t eat apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, and a couple more I can’t think of right now, without my mouth, throat, and neck getting tingly and itchy. And I adore all of these fruits! GRRRRR! I developed this multi-fruit allergy when I was 11 or 12 years old and have been on allergy medicine regularly from an allergist to combat some of the itchiness I feel when I eat them. The interesting thing about this allergy is the fact that I can still eat apple pie, apple sauce, peach pie, etc. When you heat the fruit and cook it (pie, cobbler, etc) the heat destroys some of the chemical bonds in the fruit that are responsible for my allergies. That is to say, if I realllllllllllly wanted an apple, I could technically put it in the microwave for a minute or two. That’s gross and I’ve only tried it once, but it does work!

    -Cynthia