Monday, September 16, 2013

4 months down! Monthly update + skin anomalies


This 4th month has flown by. At the beginning of it, I flared pretty badly but since then, I've been leveling out. Since my last post, I actually managed to maintain that good skin condition. I've been ridiculously over the moon the past week, almost always smiling and giggling like a school girl at the tiniest funnies. I'd say out of character for myself as I'd describe my typical mood verging on "emo". It's really been amazing to taste what normal life is again and not have to worry every minute about scratching my skin to bits.

Today, I feel I may be on the verge of a flare though. I was impossibly itchy last night. Back of hand skin started to swell a little and as a precaution I wore a long sleeve shirt w/ thumb holes to bed.

As some of you may know, this whole journey started when I had burned my leg with nearly boiling water. I lost about a third square foot (about 300 sq cm) of skin on my leg and it took a couple of weeks for all the skin to reform. This is back in May. Since then, it's still been discolored, even though the skin texture seems to be normal. I always assumed my skin here was already 100% healed, despite the color, but last night it was really acting up. I don't know what the trigger was but that entire area started getting super bumpy. I was worried it was herpeticum and popped two acyclovirs in case but I didn't have sores anywhere else so I was probably overreacting. In the end, it just seemed like hives and luckily it wore down overnight.

Brown edges indicate the edge of my burn. White skin in center was where the skin fell all the way off. 
Hives formed on youngest (weakest) skin. You can see my TSW skin on my left leg's inner thigh.

No, my leg isn't a triangle. Just wanted this angle to show the bumpy texture.
Almost looks like a rectangle sunset :)

This little skin anomaly was just a reminder that even though my healed skin looks normal, it might still be sick in the microscopic layers that we can't see. The same is true with Topical Steroid Addiction. Though our skin may appear healthy, we know all too well that the negative effects are not visible to the naked eye until we start the topical steroid withdrawal journey. It explains to me why even though we appear healed, we still flare again and again. But eventually we will get there. 

Happy healing everyone. One month closer to healed!

2 comments:

  1. Psoriasis—A skin disease that causes scaling and swelling. Most psoriasis causes patches of thick, red skin with silvery scales. These patches can itch or feel sore. They are often found on the elbows, knees, other parts of the legs, scalp, lower back, face, palms, and soles of the feet. But they can show up on other areas, as well. Psoriasis can be hard to diagnose because it can look like other skin diseases. The doctor might need to look at a small skin sample under a microscope. Treatment depends on how serious the disease is, the size of the psoriasis patches, the type of psoriasis, and how the patient reacts to certain treatments. Rashes (basic dermatitis)

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    1. Thanks for the suggestion but the skin didn't scale like psoriasis. It was more reminiscent of a viral rash but luckily, it came and went quickly and hasn't returned.

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