Day 32 (photos)

I thought I would upload a few more photos charting my progress.

As you can see, my poor face is still quite blotchy, especially around the chin and nose, and my neck is completely raw. Unfortunately, I keep scratching my face in my sleep, so when I wake up, it is usually bleeding! On the plus side, the oozing and crusting has stopped, which I am happy about. The skin on my cheeks is relatively normal, so I hope the rest will follow, although the redder areas were where I used the most potent steroid creams so they will take longer to heal. The steroid induced rosacea that I had on the sides of my nose as a direct result of applying the strong steroids has gone completely since stopping the steroid cream.

I think my hands look like old lady's hands, thanks to the large patch of red, leathery skin on the back of my hand. Again, this is an area where I never applied steroids before, but as soon as you stop using the steroid creams, the rebound effect covers the whole body, due to the vasodilation of the blood vessel and capilliary network in the body. The blood vessels have been suppressed by the steroid creams for so long, they are going crazy as they have to re-learn how to function properly again.

My neck area is making great progress compared to the previous photos I posted of this area. The redness is now confined to the central area and I think this is because this area creases when I sleep on my side and sweats more. The rest of the neck area is nice white skin and gives me hope that soon the whole area will be normal again.

My arms and wrists are continuing to cause me a lot of problems. Most people in the google support group are having problems with the skin on their arms, with the redness stopping short of the palm. My arms are very itchy at night and I keep waking up and finding them raw as I have scraped the skin off, slowing the healing down. I try to use as little product on my skin as possible to avoid irritation, but I moisturise my arms, otherwise I can't bend them properly.

Progress seems to be slow, but things are definitely improving. I look forward to posting some really good skin photos in the coming months. The thing I am happiest about at this point is the improvement in the neck and chest areas. My face is slowly improving, my arms are about the same and my legs are worse, but at least I can keep those areas covered up. The photos are hard for me to look at, but a reminder of the damage that steroid creams can do to skin. In fact, the Japanese doctor, Dr Fukaya MD did an experiment putting steroid cream on healthy skin to see the effects and the results showed the damage that the steroids did to the skin layers. Shocking stuff.

I was reading the newspaper today and was shocked to see a dermatologist recommend using OTC hydrocortisone cream to treat chapped winter skin. Steroid creams are used worldwide for a range of skin conditions, including rosacea, psoriasis, eczema and also to lighten skin. Many people, including doctors it seems, think that they are harmless. I would like them to see my photos and recognise the damage that overuse of steroid cream does to the skin and body.