Thursday, March 3, 2011

Someone Call the Dermatologist!

Ok, so one of the most embarrassing moments of my life was in January 2008 when I had two teeth abscess simultaneously and right next to each other, the trauma of which caused my lower jaw to swell a good 2 inches away from my face. It was the most pain I've ever endured and it took days for the swelling to go down. To add insult to injury, and purpose to this post, I had what I thought was an allergic reaction to the antibiotic in the form of an itchy pustule rash all over my face and neck.

I was happy to put this scary experience behind me forever until 3 weeks ago. It was the day I was leaving my parents house to come back home and I woke up with what I thought were just itchy eyebrows. Intensely itchy. I thought maybe I'd just gotten some cleanser stuck in them from inadequate rinsing the night before, and didn't think much of it. Fast forward to 10pm PST: 16 hours later, I'm in LAX and my flight is boarding soon but my face is on FIRE! My whole face is itching like crayzay. God bless small miracles and the tiny tube of hydrocortisone I find in the terminal book shop. I make it through 10 hours of the flight, I've slept well, and I'm going to the bathroom on the plane to freshen up, put some makeup on, take a "spit bath" with some Wet Ones; I look in the mirror and my face is blanketed in tiny white pustules. They're EVERYWHERE!! My memory flashes back to 2008. These bumps are much smaller than the ones from them, but they are definitely the same thing. I panic and try to scratch them off my face with my fingernails. They're popping, but BOY does that hurt! I stop scratching. Dammit. What the hell have I done to myself??? What is causing this shit??

I do something brave then. Stacy would be unimpressed, but I disembark my flight....are you ready? WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON! I know. Shock. Horror. I looked like I'd stuck my face under a broiler or something and it BURNED and ITCHED and whyyyy? What is causing it?? 42 hours after initial itchy eyebrow attack, I am home and I am sleeping. The next day my face looks a lot better! No new bumps. Two days after that, there's still some redness, but it's even better than the day before. And it just goes away on its own.

Then, 3 or 4 days ago, I got what I thought was a small break-out on my cheeks. This is really unusual for me because my skin is usually pretty clear and, if I do get any pimples, it's always on my chin. I decided to ignore it and hopefully let it go down on its own. But it stayed bright red, 3 or 4 tiny red bumps, and then there were some coming on my forehead. No itchyness though. But then, yesterday, I woke up and it was....dun dun dun....itchy eyebrows! NOOOOOO!! And then the itchy face all day long, all day long, itchy, itchy, itchy and then this morning it was the white bumps when I woke up and now I ask WHYYYY????

Someone call the dermatologist, my skin is freaking out. Could it really be something I'm ingesting? Was it ever the antibiotics in the first place or was it something topical? The only thing I can think of recently is these Neutrogena makeup remover cleansing towlettes I've been using the past week but it's neutrogena! They're supposed to be great for sensitive skin and this stuff in particular is meant to be so gentle you can even use it on your eye makeup.

I'm frustrated. I have bumpy skin and I want to know why. I'm too vain for this shit.