Well, it was good while it lasted... Month 21!
Between mid December and mid January, I was doing well, skin-wise.
So well, in fact, that I may have gone a little overboard. I started wearing makeup and moisturizing my face. My skin felt smooth, but perhaps was still a bit weak. Well, I may have jumped the gun on that one b/c a flare began the last week of January and has still not subsided.
At least there's no terrible itch or lack of sleep. It's just really peely skin on a few of my eczematic spots of my hands even with slight ooze on one finger and my lips, OH my lips. They have just been terribly chapped for the past few weeks. They would heal perhaps for a day or two then go back to being super chapped again. I'm getting close to a chap cycle and hoping it will subside after this.
How am I handling this? I'm back to my dead sea salt bath every 2-3 days as needed (It feels SO GOOD). And NO MOISTURIZER. I think this was my mistake in jumping the gun on my facial skin before it was ready. The thing is, my forehead is just fine, as it was not an area affected by TSW. But the TSW affected areas (cheeks, chin, lips and upper lip) are really not happy with me and are super flaky. At least I'm not panicking and I just have to continue to remind myself not to get too excited the next time I get a turn around.
I'm fairly certain this flare/setback is a result of me moisturizing too early. Why? My legs and feet are just fine. I moisturized very minimally in these areas whereas my hands/face where I got overzealous in moisturizing are really punishing me right now.
Here are the pix.
3rd finger is so unhappy! There's a bit of ooze coming out of the cracked upper knuckle.
Right hand has always been ahead in healing, but still shows a sign of a flare on the ring finger, it was oozing 2 days ago but I've been keeping it taped up for the most part so it's healing nicely.
Woe is me. The entire outline of my lips is a mess. With cracks and thick skin, it's hard to even eat a large bite! It looks like I got a lip job from far away. HAH. My jawline has tender flaking skin which shows pink very easily, as is the case with my cheeks. You can probably tell I was just scratching my cheek, with that tell tale piece of white showing through. My upper lip skin has just begun to heal from being cracked all week.
Moral of the story? Don't moisturize before the skin is 100% healed, if at all!
Happy healing and stay dry!
Dear Megan, have you been tested on allergy for isothiazolinone, a.k.a. Kathon CG? This is a conservant that gives strong eczema in atopic people and its an ingredient in most fabric softeneres and even in perfume free detergants. Also in hand soap and some creams. I advise you to use Ecover detergent, or Sodasan or Sonett. german brands are very good in general. You can use vinegar as a fabric softener and bacteria killer.
ReplyDeleteGood luck,
Judith.
Thanks for the input. I don't think I have a huge issue with detergents since the areas where I wear clothes all day don't seem to react, but it would be interesting to test.
DeleteMegan
STOP eating sugar and fruit. Otherwise no matter what you do it will return. Avoid dairy or at least reduce it to homemade yogurt with nothing sweet. Add garlic to your diet..lots of it. Then and only then start using Chaparral both internally and externally. Strong smell and taste strong but it is amazing.
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