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I went shopping with two friends yesterday, one not aware of my incontinence, walking for what seemed like miles! During the walk, I noticed discomfort on my upper legs, where the disposable diaper leg elastic contacts. I was wearing a Northshore Supreme diaper sample under jeans and had soaked it by the time I had an opportunity to change. I noticed 2” welts on both inner legs when I changed, cleaned up and put some medicated cream on both welts. I had only the second Supreme sample with me so I had no choice but to use it. By the time I got home, the diaper was very wet and both welts were bloody and very painful!! I washed with antibiotic soap and applied more medicated cream, changed back into cloth and slept through the night. This morning, the welts looked much better and painless.
I wear cloth most of the time and am usually very active during the day and I nearly never have skin breakdown like this with cloth so I’m wondering what the root cause of this incident might be. Cloth seems to wick wetness away much better than disposable products - for me, so I’m wondering if the dampness and friction caused the problem or maybe a chemical reaction between my urine and the diaper materials, coupled with lots of walking?

This can be from several causes because you said you were walking a great deal this could be from sweat and friction from walking, the heat from your body mixed with sweat and urine (if you leaked) combined with the friction of walking is likely the cause. Another common cause with disposable and this issue is the product may have been to tight on your body and not able to move there is a fine line between too loose causing leaks and too tight causing chaffing and irritation ideally the briefs should be loose enough to be able to slide your fingers between your skin and brief but tight enough for the elastics and leg gathers to create a good seal. The last likely cause is chemical sensitivity every brand uses different material and we all have different reactions to them it is possible you are sensitive to these briefs. you may find with a short amount of time your body gets acclimated to the brief and this goes away or you may need to find another brand that does work for you!

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Interesting about the chemical sensitivity. I have been using a body glide stick (one I used for running) as this is a problem I used to have regularly. I figured it was just chaffing. I’m glad that cloth works for you, Ellyn.

there is one brand of well-known products that my skin tends to get irritated by, they are great products but my skin does not like the plastic or some material used for some reason all other things being equal.

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Thank you for the thoughts and advice. In hindsight, I believe that the legs were adjusted too snugly, coupled with flooding, which left that area saturated and my skin irritated.
The welts are healing well so no harm done and no outings planned for awhile, though the holidays aren’t that far off now!! With exception of at least two parties, I can probably stay in cloth.
By the way, I tried MegaMax samples from Northshore and have to say that they are awesome! Aside from the welt issue, I believe that the Supremes are a very good quality brief too, however I think that the MegaMax diapers manage my flooding much better.

I was glad to read that your skin issues are resolving. I just re-read the skin care section in the Primer. My only disagreement with it is that it specifies talc, which recent research has made questionable.

When I used to walk more, I would get this same issue. A couple of things helped, though. I used either a lotion and a "slippery" plastic pant. That reduced friction by a good deal. Second, I used tighter boxer briefs that gave me coverage as high up on my thighs as possible, again to cut down on friction.

Bottom line is that moisture in that area combined with anything that can cause friction (the GaryWear pants I usually trust are just a little too rough). Anything that can wick sweat will help protect your skin.

From my experience it’s often a better to use thinner protection and change more often if you are active. For me I found out that it’s also a good idea wear a normal cotton slip over the diaper if I’m walking outside to keep the foil of the diaper away from my legs.
At the end it depends of cause on the degree of your incontinence and on how much you loose with an episode or over the time, but often there is room for optimization. I tried a lot of products before I found the ones that fit best to me and to the situation I’m in (like Office, travling, walking, nighttime ...). One think I’d learned is that there is not the “one product fit’s all” solution for me. In fact I’m using three different types of products depending on the situation I’m in. An other thing that I’d learned was, that it’s often better to throw a product away that is not working as expected instead of using it up...

Thank you all for the kind advice!
Not knowing this morning what I’ve learned now, I spent the day outside on the ranch and did a lot of walking.... I used an Abena M4 with a booster because I knew I’d be out at least the morning so I didn’t want to bother with changing cloth. HUGE mistake!! I’ve used Abena for years for disposable needs with never a problem but for the second time now within several days, I have welts that are Very Nasty! I’ve about to decide it’s a urine chemistry or a skin issue now. I put medicated cream on and a cloth diaper, making sure that the plastic pants are nowhere near the welts. I’m absolutely miserable!! I’ll make a visit to my dermatologist ASAP.

Please do, and report back when you can.