So I'm left to my own devices.
I had trouble-free skin until late December 2008 - by trouble-free, I don't mean perfect, porcelain and poreless. I had combination skin, prone to breakouts, so I get spots during stressful exam times or after pigging out on oily and spicy food.
However, during December 2008, I had a zit on my right cheek that never went away, then new patches of spots started coming. I knew it wasn't acne, because the redness was more like 'patches' rather than squeezable pimples. Also, I know at 21, you just don't suddenly get acne. So I did many silly things like using mud masks trying to get rid of the 'pimples' even though I knew it wasn't a simple case of acne outbreak.
Naturally, the masks made the situation worse, my skin got irritated and it started weeping a little and was very itchy.
My GP diagnosed 'dermatitis' and he prescribed bactroban and a course of Doxycycline (antibiotics), but I had a hand rash after taking the antibiotics, which then I was prescribed Diprosone for the hand rash.
My GP (a different one, but it's at the same medical practice, so I know them all) subsequently gave me Cephalexin genix (antibiotics) and prescribed Elidel cream for the facial rash, which helped for a few weeks but the problem never went away, the Elidel simply alleviated the symptoms. Strangely, I have taken Doxycycline in the past and since then, but the bad reaction was only a one-off epidemic.
I have taken a blood test during that time, and the allergy test came back with very high sensitivity to dust mites and dusts. The normal range of sensitivty is 3-120, and mine came back 793! I mean, who gets allergic to dusts, it is everywhere, and it wasn't like I lived in a dirty environment (oh my mum would go mad if anyone said my house is not squeaky clean).
I have, as my doctor suggested, changed my bed sheets and pillow cases to Allergen (anti-dust mites), but this did not seem to help. My symptoms were very random, it would come and go, one day I will wake up and it's horrible, but a few days later, it will be normal-ish again. I found it immensely frustrating, because of its unpredictable nature. During the Christimas and New Years break, I had to cancel many dates and plans with friends and boyfriend last minute because it'll just be too unbearable to leave the house with a rash :S It was then, I changed my skincare products to the Cetaphil range, it was gentle and the moisturising cream was just too greasy, so I can breakout from the cream.
Mind you, the Christmas of 2008 was one of the HOTTEST summers in Sydney - ever.
In February 2009, my GP thought my condition has changed and prescribed Eryacne 2% (what was he thinking??!!) for my skin. I guess, he thought I had acne. But I didn't. Eryacne dried out my skin terribly and it was itchier than ever before and started weeping again. So I had to use bactroban, Elidel and Eryacne on a daily basis on different parts of my face, depending on the situation. My face is not that big, but somehow, I managed to have different zones of problems that required different prescriptive cream. The horror, the horror!
In March 2009, My GP(s) has finally conceded, he is clueless about my symptoms and he has referred me to a dermatologist. My dermatologist is my savior, I wanted to kiss her because she is that brilliant! She looked at my long history and simply asked, why was I not referred to her earlier, and why did my GP(s) not realise I have eczema and need cortisone?
My dermatologist prescribed Sigmacort cream 1% to apply 3 times a day. I have never heard of eczema before, so when I did some research on the internet, I was perplexed. Usually, people get eczema as a baby and then grow out of it, or there's always a family history of it. In my case, it just came from no where, also, eczema means dry skin, I have combination skin which is quite oily in summer. Does that mean I don't have an ordinary case of eczema?
After 4 days, my skin was back to normal, so I only used Sigmacort 1 time per day, at night. At that time, my skin was still reddish, but it was not rashy or itchy or weepy, obviously my standard of 'normal' has dropped dramatically and considered that level of recovery a miracle already.
I went back to the dermatologist a week later and she told me to use Sigmacort once every few days for a while, just to keep the problem under control. I did, and when uni started, my skin was back to normal. I was over the moon!
If only this was a happy ending, and I said then I lived happily ever after with trouble-free skin.
No, Sigmacort is a cortisone cream, as a steriod, it does not help with my strange case of eczema but only keep the flare up under control. In addition, the wonders of Google told me cortisone cream is a no no, it has MANY negative effects, I was horrified and thought I was going to die from such a drug. So my parents decided to find a natural therapy for my condition, heal the root cause rather than just the symptoms.
Due to my suspected food intolerance and my parents' adamant belief that certain foods are just NOT good for your skin. So I was rushed to try TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), the practitioner at Beijing Tong Ren Tang gave me a long spill about my blood being too hot (i.e. heat, in TCM jargon, talking about hot blooded woman eh), my stomach is too cool (apparently my digestive system is too weak to handle certain foods thus the food intolerance).
So he gave me a list of food I should not be eating, they are garlic, onions, wasabi, pepper, chilli, mushrooms, octopus, squid, seafood (especially crabs, lobster, shellfish and crustaceans), seaweed, lychee, honey, eggplants, lamb, and beef.
Instead, my diet should consist of very bland food, such as green bean, cucumbers, pearl barley (fantastic), carrots, tomatoes, water melon, yam, duck, fresh water fish.
I followed the diet plan strictly. Luckily for me, my family is super health conscious, so it wasn't hard for me to convert to a mainly vegetable based diet. Due to the confinement of my food choices, I went to see a naturopath to consult on certain vitamin and mineral supplements.
My naturopath told me to take Vitamin B12, multi-vitamin, Vitamin B complex, and Vitamin C. Something STUPID I did was, my naturopath was also a beauty therapist, which she convinced me that my blocked pores are causing me all the eczema and acne, I needed to let my skin breath and a microdermabrasion is exactly what I needed, because it'll make me GLOW and have PERFECT skin. I am the kind of idiot that fall for words like this.
A reasonable person can foresee this did not go down well, I had another flare up, but thankful to my Sigmacort, I had it under control within a few days. However, it made my skin more sensitive :(
For the rest of 2009, my skin was tolerable. I only use Sigmacort 1% when my skin flare up, for a 45g tube, I still have 60% of it left. I am just too scared about using cortisone creams on my sensitive and thin skin. I didn't see my dermatologist again after the initial 3 visits or my GP again, in fact, I have never returned to that GP again.
Then I had another problem, my eczema conflicts with my combination skin, all the cleanser and lotions for sensitive skin and eczema skin seem to be too 'moisturising' for my skin, which causes breakouts, which further tortures my poor skin.
As a result, I have developed discolouration on my cheeks and scars from repeated skin problems, and I often switch between skincare products depending on my current conditions. It was very expensive and time consuming doing research for possible products to try.
In March 2010, I had a sudden allergy attack which strained my skin (again). Since then, I now have sensitive and DRY skin (very eczema like now, at least), which is still prone to breakouts. I don't use prescribed creams, but I just want to even out my skin tone, keep my skin moisturised and hydrated yet don't get blocked pores or breakouts.
I need to do something!!!
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