DAY 176

Ages since I last posted an update! To be honest, things have been so ‘normal’ that I thought it wasn’t worth updating…

I went to Dublin with the girls and broke my no-pint rule (6 months!) at the Guinness Factory. No flare-ups.

Have been trying my hardest to eat healthily whenever possible and have been putting together a typical 7-day food diary for you to get an idea of how I’m shoving things together and hoping they work out ok. Will post soon!

Last weekend, I went to my great auntie and uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary and felt faaaaaaaabulous!

… But then I rubbed make-up into my eye on the way home and, as it turns out, I’m potentially allergic to either my eye-liner or mascara. My forehead has also flared after being caked in foundation for the first time in months. Now, 3 days later, I’m still struggling a bit not to rub my eyes even more. Yesterday, people at work asked if I was ok because I looked like I’d been crying. Luckily, they’re a little better today, but still sore, dry and a little itchy!

Also, I had my first glass of wine in over 6 months at that party. I thought since the Guinness gave me no flares that my luck may have changed on the alcohol front, but despite drinking white wine, which is normally a walk in the park compared to red, I started itching within 10 minutes and had to give what was left of my glass away – I think that’s monumental proof of the level to which eczema has changed me as a human being.

The rest of me is doing great though; my right leg is on 2x a day, my left leg and upper back are on 121212, and my lower back and stomach are on 1x a day. ONE APPLICATION A DAY!!My arms, forehead and patches of my neck I wanted to go down to 4x but am keeping them at 5x in light of this little flare. Such slow progress on these areas but can I really argue with such clear skin?!

DAY 155

Progress pics alert! I woke up really early this morning due to jetlag, and since I’m currently on business travel I didn’t have much to do, so naturally decided to take some skin pictures… Sometimes, only when you revisit where you were do you realise how far you’ve come!

I LOVE HAVING A FULL SET OF EYEBROWS!

Thinking back to how many times my forehead flared in the first few months of treatment, I’ve sort of taken for granted the fact that it’s been very clear for a while now. Yay!

DAY 154

Exciting news… I’ve begun 212121 on my stomach and lower back! I could have probably done this sooner but didn’t want to add the pressures of my travels to the change so held on until this week to drop down.

Three days in, so far so good!

And overall, dayumn my skin is looking positively lickable! For once, I haven’t suffered too much hypo pigmentation after tanning, perhaps because it’s not needing to heal over much anymore. I’m all one smooth brown colour and I can’t stop getting my belly out just to admire myself!

As an update to my last post, my arms did fully flare (well, not fully fully, but you know, post-Dr Aron fully) and with it came a tiny bit on my chest, but my chest went down again in a few days after upping applications of the compound.
I controlled my arms by using undiluted twice a day (not the four that Dr Aron normally starts you on; it didn’t seem that severe). I’ve now weaned myself off the undiluted so am waiting to see if my skin will cope with such a quick drop down.

Two major things contributed to my holiday flare:
1. I fancied treating myself to a cheeky sunbathe but thought the sun was a trigger for me so covered my arms in a sarong. Turns out, it’s not the sun, it’s the heat of the sun that triggers. Covering them may actually have made the heat worse… The rest of my body was absolutely fine!
2. We went on a two hour ferry which, in true Indonesian style, had air con units installed but refused to turn them on. It was a packed boat but the people sitting next to the windows were getting ocean spray in their faces so closed the windows, leaving us gasping for a bit of cool air. I frantically fanned my arms the whole journey, but still I could see the redness rising and becoming inflamed. Gaaah…

Anyhoo, I’m back in the UK now and am thus preparing to deal with my next trigger factor: the cold. I’ve realised the thing I’m probably going to struggle with the most is finding cotton clothes for winter. Unless you want to pay £30 for a plain, frumpy cotton shirt/top, there aren’t a lot of options out there. I struggle to put together a work wardrobe on a budget as it is, so I think I’m going to just have to buy jumpers but wear long-sleeved cotton tops underneath to save my skin from contact.

Oh well, I should be used to being unfashionable by now… Everything will be a-ok! (#nomakeup)