Day 250: Before and after photos

Hey, this must be a bit of a milestone for me! 250 days off the 'roids! Hurrah!

Time for some before and after photos.....

Oh dear! Look at my poor old blotchy red face in this photo. I was pretty miserable. My face was really puffy too. I had to have my hair tied back because of the oozing and I couldn't stand my hair on my neck.

This is me today! Yay! My face isn't puffy and is actually a normal colour. Bearing in mind that I applied strong creams to this area daily for many years, it has recovered really well. And hey, it only took 250 days!

This is my red arm early on in withdrawals.Oooh, sore....!

...and my arm today, all better!

My neck is so red on this photo that it looks like I was glowing.It hurts to look at it.

This is my neck today. Pale again with only a very slight residual rash.

I hate this old photo of the back of my leg. It reminds me of when my skin was so bad, I could not walk because of the pain in my flexures.

The same leg today (do you know how hard it is to take a photo of the back of your leg?) Very minor rash, no cracking or flaking.

So I would like to throw out this challenge to all those people who do not believe in topical steroid addiction: Look at my pictures and explain what is going on if you can.

If steroids are so useful for treating eczema, how come my skin is almost clear now I have stopped using them?

Steroid induced eczema is curable. I am proof of that. People are waking up to the fact that prolonged use of steroid creams cause an eczema-like rash that is actually worse than the skin condition that it was supposed to treat!

Check out www.itsan.org for more information about steroid induced eczema. How long will it take the medical profession to face the facts about the damage that prolonged use of steroid cream causes? Some experts advise that these creams should be used for no more than 5 days, not for years on end like I did. If you need daily steroid creams to manage your eczema, then face facts: You are addicted.