Two Weeks After

Its been two weeks since I threw away my last 3 accutane pills. And since I was in the desert and suffering from crazy eczema, and hiking in the desert drinking a gallon plus of water a day, I didn't feel bad skipping out on a day and half of accutane.

Things are going well. My energy is good. My skin is good. Joints are getting better. Brain is still improving.

Most importantly, occasionally I am thinking of myself as someone who doesn't get acne. Having acne was such a constant thing, then all the acne medications were something that needed my attention, now occasionally, I think/worry about my skin, but then I don't need to. So much will be freed up if this treatment continues to work.

The dermatologist gave me some cleanser and told me not to moisturize my face unless its dry. He said there's too much moisturizing going on under false information, and that this topic should be on Oprah. So I'm cleaning my face really for the first time in 6mo. I used to just use a wash cloth to get all the dead skin off.

My desert eczema is clearing up since we go back from the southwest. I was diagnosed with Polymorphous Light Eruption. This is the most fun to say ailment I've ever been diagnosed with. Say it out loud. You'll enjoy it. Basically, I'm allergic to the sun. Ha!

3rd Blood Test, Injection and Sunblock

My third blood sample was taken without incident, lets hope it doesn't get lost between the office and the lab!

Julia (the physician's aide who supervises my treatment) is really nice. She saw the big pimple on my cheek and was like "Oh, do you want me to inject that?" and I'm like, "Inject it? With what?" She says, "I'll inject it and it will be gone by tomorrow!" And of course I'm like "Yeah!"

I get these dark patches on my skin, symmetrically sorta down from my near the inner corner of my eyes, and expanding outward onto my cheeks. It looks kinda weird, like symmetrical dirt or like a cat, but it is also on my forehead. I am not sure if it is skin damage from the acne or hormonal stuff like "the mask of pregnancy" that it resembles. It shows up from sun exposure.

I can treat it with bleaching cream, but haven't been since starting the accutane, but Julia said I totally can!

She also told me that the Neutrogena Helioplex stuff is not strong enough, and that I need something with zinc oxide in it. She gave me several samples, and I will look for make up with sunscreen that has zinc oxide it as well.