Hi shelilah,
That would be a big mistake IMO.
While other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful, I would always keep in mind that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and I would be cautious about about using anyone else’s suggestions, experiences or reviews on a specific mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you and in many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because a mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range). In other words … reviews in general won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).
Reading reviews is one of the least reliable ways to assess the suitability or durability of a mattress.
If you check the law label of a mattress it should list the amount of any memory foam (viscoelastic foam) or polyfoam (polyurethane foam) in the mattress listed by the total weight percentage of each material but it won’t tell you anything about the quality and durability of the foam layers, the thickness of the foam layers, or the position of the specific layers inside the mattress.
The only reliable way to to assess the “safety” of different materials in more general terms is based on lab tests and the certifications they have for harmful substances and VOCs so that you have some assurance that any harmful substances or VOCs are below the testing limits for the certification (see post #2 here for more information about some of the more reliable “safety” certifications). If the materials in a mattress or the mattress itself has a reliable “safety” certification then for most people they would certainly be “safe enough” … regardless of the type of material or the name of the manufacturer on the label.
The polyfoam and memory foam that Simmons uses is CertiPUR-US certified (see the list here) so their materials would certainly be “safe enough” for most people.
ADMIN NOTE:Removed 404 page link | Archived Footprint: certipur.us/for-consumers/find-products/
Having said that … it’s certainly possible that some people may be sensitive to or have some type of allergy to any material even if it has a certification.
I’m not a health professional and I can’t “diagnose” the reasons for your itching (or any other medical issue) but from a layperson’s perspective it seems more likely that any itching or red spots from sensitivities or allergies would most likely be from any materials or fabrics that are closer to or in contact with your skin (such as the mattress cover, your mattress protector, or your sheets and bedding) than the deeper layers and components in your mattress. Some people also sleep warmer on memory foam so I suppose it’s also possible that it could be related to sleeping temperature as well.
This may be “reaching” but it’s also possible that it could be related to bed bugs (see some pictures for comparison here) or from flea bites (see some pictures for comparison here) or some other type of “bites” but there really is no way for me to know for sure so I’m just guessing and I would suggest a visit to a medical professional that can help you find out so you can avoid any suspect materials that could be the cause for your symptoms.
There are probably others that have experienced almost any “symptom” you could describe but I can’t think of any others off the top of my head that have mentioned similar symptoms from sleeping on a Simmons mattress.
Phoenix