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My old friend, the face-eater

Today is the first day that I have been pretty much pain free, ooze-free and not flat out on my bed hoping that I could get at least a few hours sleep without feeling like my skin was on fire and trying to crawl off my face at the same time. It's not ideal to fall ill at the weekend, but thanks to a 24hour society in this part of the world, I got to see a doctor on a Sunday afternoon, since hanging on for one more day to see my mum's dermatologist was too much agony. The doctor I saw at the medical centre looked like she was about my age. She made a lot of noises about the condition of my face and tut-tutted in horror that I had survived for two days with it. Believe me, sister, I was hanging on by a thread there. I think I was possibly the only one at the clinic who looked like I needed to be there. Doogie Howser didn't dare give me any steroids since she felt the extensive facial eczema needed a specialist's attention but she gave me a course of antibiotics instead. I go home, armed with bug killer, a bottle of saline and packs of cotton wool and tissue paper. The only relief I get is by draping several layers of saline-soaked tissue paper on my face. I poke one hole in it to breath through and two holes for me to watch television.

Monday afternoon and the dermatologist has slotted me in as an extra. Man, it's good, when your mother knows people. The doc doesn't mess about and gives me a course of oral steroids. He doesn't see the point of giving me hydrocortisone cream which probably won't work too good at this point since my skin is excoriated, oedematous and is agony to touch. He wants to go straight for the hard stuff. I like this guy already.

My mum twitches at the mention of steroids and the doc, knowing her qualms over steroids goes on a spiel over the safety and efficacy of prednisolone in short courses. I'm grateful for my mum for getting me this appointment but I don't care if she objects - I'm legally an adult, I'm paying for this and I want my prednisolone!

He also gives me a bottle of potassium permanganate to apply to my face. What? I ask, you mean KMnO4? The stuff we use in school labs? Won't it stain my face brown? Don't I look enough like a monster already? He says it'll dry the wounds up and should be diluted so it won't stain. Anyway, I'm grateful for something, anything, even if it means slapping my face with stuff that I played with in a school lab.

At home, I bin RM50 worth of face cream which I suspect was the main culprit in triggering this particular eposode. And here I thought I was being safe by buying EcoGreen stuff which is paraben-free, all natural, bla bla bla. Instead it ends up eating my face. Maybe the two Ferrero Rocher I had a few days earlier contributed to it as well, but they were gifts from my friend's wedding reception and I could very well not eat them. They're lucky chocolates!

Lucky for me, The Flatmate (or rather ex-flatmate) has arrived from England for her holidays and has brought seven tubes of my usual cream with her. Hooray!

You might ask, why don't I test drive products on other parts of my body before separating with my cash for it? The answer is because for some reason my face is on a totally different planet from the rest of my body and what the body will tolerate, the face will throw a tantrum and bitch-slap it away. Even the expensive, all natural creams. I should really make friends with a chemist who can make up my own special potions. Hang on, I do know a chemist...... but last I heard he was doing the rounds flogging Viagra for Pfizer. Mmmmm, not quite up my alley that.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I wonder if medicated balaklavas have been invented. I can just imagine how you felt. i think an itchy rash is the perfect torture weapon!
Hey how does your KMnO4 work? we used to give them as foot soaks for our psoriasis dudes, but i havent seen it used for the face.
Hope you feel better!
Kere said…
It has antiseptic action and dries up the pus, among its many, many applications. Useful and colourful too!
Lily G said…
goodness. hope you feel better soon. that sounds so painful.

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