Skin Update

To keep in line with why I actually started this blog I thought I should provide an update on what is happening with my skin.


In 3 months of travelling in countries I'd never visited before with food I had never eaten before and the strongest sun I've ever encountered... I had barely any problems with my skin. I certainly didn't have the mammoth swelling reaction I was expecting to experience at least once. 

And yet... A week after our return I had the delight of accompanying 13 girls on Pippa's hen do to Budapest. Cue more sunshine, plenty of drinks, some willy straws, a ton of laughs and one fateful morning where the Shrek face decided to make an appearance. 

After three months skin-problem-free you can imagine my distress at waking up on the third day of a four day hen party with a red, tight, painful face and inflamed, itchy, blistering patches of eczema. 

I grumped and moaned my way around the city mentally cursing myself for not getting a new batch of steroid creams before I left for Budapest. Note to self and others: when your creams start running out, go and get new ones as soon as possible. Do not wait until they are completely drained.

I still don't know what it is that is setting me off as I struggle to find a connection between the four instances where I have had this reaction. For all I know it has been four different triggers for each reaction. Nevertheless this gave me a kick up the arse to pursue an appointment for a patch test. I believe I mentioned before that when I went to the dermatologists in January they put me on the (6-MONTH?!!) waiting list for a patch test. 

I am pleased to say after a simple phone call this morning, the kind ladies at St. Mary's are going to try and arrange an appointment for me. I did find it slightly bizarre that the lady I spoke to noted that I hadn't quite reached the top of the waiting list but happily said she would get an appointment sorted for me. Yet another instance proving that you just have to be a bit pushy. If you don't ask, you probably won't get.

So the patch test is the next stage in this mystery. No doubt I will write about my experience with the test when it happens. It's hard to say that I'm not pinning my hopes on this finding something as I really don't know what the next stage would be if it came back with no results. Any little clue to what causes my allergic reaction would make me incredibly happy.