Day 190: Photos

I thought I would post a few of my improvement photos today to cheer everyone up and give hope to all the newbies who are just in the first months of steroid withdrawal and are wondering if things will get better.

You can see from the photo that my skin is slowly getting paler and returning to its normal colour. Like I mentioned a few days ago, I don't look much different to the other sunburned parents at the school gate and certainly feel less self conscious. It feels like things are on the right track for me and the sun is definitely helping my skin. The texture of the skin is a lot better too, it is not so flaky or oozy anymore and feels smoother to the touch. It doesn't look any different to when I was using the steroids. If you compare this photo with previous ones, you can see that my chin is a lot better than before, as this was a problem area for me.

I'm SO happy about my arm. It looks normal! A few months ago, I couldn't even bend my elbow or stretch my arm, as the skin was so tight. Now the skin is normal on the back of my arm and almost healed on the inside of my arm. I think that this is the best improved area.

My legs are also pretty much healed. The skin on my feet is normal. I still have slight issues with vesiculation on the inside of my calf, but I am now treating it with shea butter and it is slowly improving. It is nice to have some normal bits again! I remember a few months ago, when my legs were so bad that it was really painful top walk, as the flexures behind my knees were all crusted up. Things are a lot better now.

It is so lovely to be able to post pictures like these. they make such a refreshing change to the scabby ones I posted previously!

I still have a long way to go before I am 100% healed, and realistically, I know I will probably flare a few more times yet, but these photos prove that there is life after steroids! I hit a milestone this morning, because for the first time in 6 months, I was able to take the kids to school in the morning. Since withdrawals started, I have felt so ill in the mornings, that my husband takes them to school and I fetch them in the afternoon. But this morning, I felt so good that I was able to go. I'm clawing back my life bit by bit and it feels great.

When I first quit the steroid creams, I wondered if I would really improve. But I also knew that staying on the creams was not an option, as my skin wasn't responding to them anymore. Quitting has been hard and at points I thought I would break, both physically and emotionally, but now I am coming out of the tunnel and into the light again.