Haven't had the shingles yet? You have got to read this!
It was the worst time of my dermatologically devirginized skin! It started somewhere around
October of 2008. It was near the final term at school and the disease forced me
to be absent for almost 3 weeks.
THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS I EXPERIENCED, THE ONSET AND ALL THAT:
At first I had a fever which occurred nocturnally, as what I
had experienced. I'm really not sure where I got the disease, I thought
maybe in the hospital where I was having my duty. A few days after the fever,
well actually it still occurred every night but it's lower than before. When I
woke up and looked at myself in the mirror, I noticed some small
pimple-like spots on my face. Well, they did bother me but not as much as what
happened after. I really thought they were just pimples and didn't mind that
much thinking that I could easily clear them away. So I strolled around
the mall later that afternoon (kind of musing how I got as many pimples
overnight), and when I arrived home though they still really looked like
pimples, I noticed another few spots on my neck area and my chest, that's when
I started to worry. My mom warned me that maybe I have chickenpox (well she was
right). The next morning when I woke up, the most horrifying thing started to
happen, that moment when I looked at myself in the mirror, I was like...
"Damn! Who the hell are you?!” Well, as much as I would like to show you
my pictures I took when I had the chickenpox (I was planning to do it for me to
show you how ugly I look at that time), but I just can't because the camera phone
I used to take the pictures got broken (too bad huh? Well maybe I wasn't meant
to be humiliated that much.) Anyway, now back to the horror scene, I was really
shocked seeing my face at it's so far worst condition. The pimple-like spots
turned to various small and large blisters. It covered almost half of my face
(that much). Some on my neck, both my extremities, and luckily very few on my
genitals (I know you're wondering about that too like my cray friends
did). To sum it up, the blisters were more on my face than the rest of my
body, the least area I wished they should have been. That was when my
self-esteem started to decline. I felt so ugly, well I did looked ugly. So, I
scanned through my books and notes trying to review about the disease.
Below is a short definition of chickenpox, I got it from Wikipedia:
Chickenpox or chicken pox is a highly
contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus(VZV).
It generally begins with a vesicular skin rash appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head
rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw pockmarks, small
open sores which heal mostly without scarring.
I had learned that new blister or lesions would usually stop
appearing after a week, and blisters would start to crust, that's the time that
I was not contagious anymore. I had to be isolated so not to infect others,
until all the blisters had crusted. Actually, when you already had the disease
before, you will have lifetime immunity from it. So, I kind of looked at it as
an advantage. By the way, just to remind you, if ever, never prick the
blisters, because you'll surely regret it. Bursting those blisters would
be painful and would leave pitted scars on your skin.
WHAT I DID:
First of, I would also like you to know that there is a vaccine for varicella zoster especially made for those who are vulnerable to having chickenpox, since this is not really a routine childhood vaccination, but then, I was not able to take this shot. There are medications prescribed to lessen the symptoms of
chickenpox, and lessen the appearance of the blisters. But back when I had the
disease, I didn't take any medication. Maybe that's why I had lots of lesions
all over my body. What I did was just to be careful not to burst any blister
until it crusted. Unfortunately, having a lot of them all over your body would
be very uncomfortable, these are not just blisters or lesions, they are very
itchy! So imagine having them for two weeks without taking any
medication to counter the symptoms. So you'd better consult your doctor
for med prescriptions. Well, I did consult a dermatologist when I had
chickenpox (she even took an ugly pic of me). She prescribed some medications
for me (I forgot the names), she said I had to take them, 2 tabs for 3 times a
day for 2 weeks. Well, she's the doctor. I didn't buy the medications. They
were too expensive. So I took the other option: "wait until it will
heal by itself”.
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT? THE AFTER CARE AND DEALING WITH THE SCARS.
About a week and a half, the blisters started to lessen, but still
new lesions were appearing. You might be wondering if you'll take a bath or
not. Well, to tell you, you must, because if you won't, there would be a
tendency of greater risk of infection since it is possible that bacteria
will harbor on your lesions and will invade any opening on your skin. Just be
very careful when you bathe, so not to accidentally burst the blisters because
it would more likely leave a scar (like what happened to me). After the
blisters have crusted, the next problem would be, of course, the scars. Some of
them may stay, like pitted scars caused by busted blisters. My friends
were all wondering about what I used to get rid of most of my scars in
just a short span of time. I got the scars late October, and it started to
disappear around mid-December. Now, I don't have any visible scars on my face.
Except maybe some pitted scars (which would only be removed surgically). This
is what I did; I went back to my derma doctor. She gave me some creams to
get rid of the dark red spots, to even out my skin tone, and an SPF80 sunblock
cream to protect my skin from the sun while on treatment. Well, it all worked
very well for me. I used up about 2-3 50ml containers of those. It's worth it.
They helped lighten the scars. They said I really have to wait for a long time
before the scars disappear (like I could stand looking at my ugly face that
long). So I bought some exfoliating soap
to help renew my skin (not astringents because they'd just burn your
skin), it also comes with a whitening effect to even out my skin tone. See,
it's better to use soap (those that won't easily dry your skin) than facial
creams or whatever, because using soap would also even out your entire
body's skin tone, such as you won't have a whiter face which does not match your dark
skinned body (a common problem for dark skinned people). Just make sure to use
products that are really reliable and not too harsh, effects would vary
depending on skin types, of course. I won't mention any products here since
they would not even really pay me for this. Neither would I mention my
dermatologist's name. I'm just here to share to you what action should the
products that you'll purchase should have.
MY ADVICE ON THIS:
Never prick, don't use anything harsh in treating your skin, do it
all over your body and not just your face, and most of all, STOP SAYING THAT
YOU'RE UGLY (I was just kidding when I said I was). Just be confident, don't
lose hope. Everything will still be bright and beautiful the next day you wake
up, cliché.
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