Starting Month 11!

Time for a quick update! I'm just a few days into month 11, which means the end of next month is my 1 year TSW anniversary! I seriously cannot believe I have come this far and made it through those horrors of the early months. As for my condition right now, I feel like things are gradually returning to normal. I no longer return home from school bone dry, having to hurry and apply moisturizer, throw on a tank top, and put my hair in a bun all day. Sometimes I can just come home and stay in my clothes and be fine! Also, showers are way less of a pain now. I can actually enjoy the hot water instead of having to rush because everything stings. Main problem areas now are arms, wrists, shoulders, armpits, back of armpits, and back of knees. My neck has also been flaring up recently, but now I have the cold weather as an excuse to wear a scarf! Instead of slathering vaseline on everything, I can now get away with just applying some Aveeno daily moisturizer and some grape seed oil. Kind of on  the fence about the oil because I want my skin to learn how to produce oils again. Face is doing pretty well, just some redness between the eyes and above the lip. These areas are where I applied the steroids most recently so it's no surprise. Anyway, things are looking good and life is becoming livable again. I know that I probably won't be completely healed by next month, but maybe within next year! Stay strong everyone.

Great break!

HALLELUJAH! Finally a nice break! I am really beginning to see the healing going on and the red areas slowly receding.

Face is looking super good! Just a bit flaky.

Chest redness is starting to recede, now localized to the shoulders.

Neck still has room for improvement, but it's getting there!

My elbow was super cut up a few days ago, and now the cracks are disappearing.

The camera kind of washed out the redness on my wrist, but it's less red than usual!

Probably the worst area for me right now. Again, the camera makes it look less red.

Red sleeve is lightening up!

Overall, things are looking good. I still itch a lot, but I think it's more out of habit now. It's also more of a surface itch than deep down. I'm still SUPER dry, but I think that may be because of a dependence on moisturizer. I'm going to start weaning of moisturizer and oils, limiting myself to three applications a day, or more if I'm seeing people. Hopefully as I finish up my 10th month I'll be a step closer to healed. Hope you're all doing well, and know that this journey will end!

Starting month 10...

...not quite so well. Face flaring up again, but it's not too bad! It's mainly the eyelids giving me trouble. On the other hand, I think the rest of my body is in a break. Here are some long awaited pictures!

Here's my left arm, mainly white except for that stubborn inner elbow (where I applied the most steroids when I was younger, so it makes sense) I admit that the wounds are mostly caused by scratching...gah.

Right arm is better than left, but again that inner elbow:

Right wrist (so much elephant skin when I flex my palm!)

Left wrist:

Chest is pretty good right now!

I  think that I'm slowly coming out of that huge flare during month 8 and making more progress. Let's hope that month 10 will bring more healing!!

Ending month 9

Sorry for not updating in a while! I've been really busy with school and dance, and I should be doing college apps right now but I wanted to update you guys. I think that things are finally starting to calm down! Had my usual end of the month flare but it wasn't bad at all! Barely any oozing and things didn't get too red. Now, I'm just shedding off a bunch of skin, hopefully to reveal new and healed skin underneath. Dance show is coming up in 2 weeks so I hope my skin will behave for that! Also, my face has been doing really well, and I'm hoping that it's closed to healed. I don't get red, burning skin all over my face anymore, but I do get some minor pink patches around my eyelids and cheeks. In addition, my sleep is completely normal!! I never knew that this would happen, but it's great to be sleeping again. I think that going back to school really helped because I have to get up at 7:30 on the dot each day. I'll hopefully post up some pictures later when I have time!

What I Look Forward to After TSW

1. Waking up comfortably and just rolling out of bed, ready to start a new day, instead of being bone dry and unable to move)
2. Not scratching for hours
3. Being able to take long, hot showers
4. Wearing tanktops, short sleeves, and shorts
5. Not having to sweep flakes off of every surface I touch
6. Not having to bring a tub of vaseline with me everywhere
7. Wearing perfume
8. Wearing jewelry
9. Not having to constantly spread vaseline over my painful, flaky, rough skin
10. Having soft, smooth, white skin
11. Not having to worry about flares and when they will occur
12. Not having to remove dead skin from under my nails
13. Feeling human

I'll probably add more to this when I think of some...

Starting Month 9

Started month 9 about 5 days ago, and I must say things are still pretty rough. Today, I woke up with ok skin, super flaky and dry but not too red, and by the end of the night I started oozing around my neck. Also, my eyelids, mouth, and forehead are red and flaky. Arms are the worst at the moment, constantly red, flaky, and covered in scabs. Assuming that what happened last month was the start of the second wave, I'm praying that things will start to get better from now on. I'm so tired of wearing long sleeve shirts every second of my life and having to shake flakes off of everything I own. Sigh, hopefully I'm close to the end.

The Itch!

UGH! The itch is especially horrible with this flare, and scratching makes everything really painful. I pray that this is the healing itch and that it's a step closer to the end.

Fed Up

I'm having my monthly menstrual flare and I'm at my limit. I just had a horrible itching frenzy and scratched my chest until it was raw and oozing....not fun. I just look at everyone else with their flawless skin and get so jealous...how I used to freely wear whatever I wanted and not experience the deathly horrible feeling of clothing over dry, flaky, oozing skin. How I used to wear tank tops and short sleeve shirts, my wardrobe now consisting of a plain, ugly long sleeve top to hide my red arms. How I used to be able to snuggle up in my blankets in any position and feel comfortable, while now I'm confined to lying straight on my back without moving so that my ooze doesn't touch the sheets. The list goes on and on, and I just wish this would all be over already so that I can live normally again. I've already been through 8 months, nearing 9, of this hell, and I know that some have suffered longer and harder than I have but this is just horrible. No one on earth should have to suffer through this...it's outrageous. Of the 5 stages of grief, I'm still at the anger/bargaining/depression stages, and I probably won't reach the acceptance stage until I'm healed. I hope you're all faring better than me, and hopefully in a few days I won't feel as bad.

Uh oh...

The red skin has spread to the back of my knees. I prayed this wouldn't happen...but it did...

Getting better

I'm healing up from the last flare, but somehow my eyelids oozed and swelled up this morning. I'm almost positive that it was the chocolate that I ate yesterday, but can't be too sure...Also today in the school bathroom, a girl seemed genuinely concerned that I had been beaten up because of my swollen, red eyelids. I assured her that it was just allergies and hightailed it out of there....I don't know whether to be hurt or amused by this HA! Hope you're all having a well-needed break.

Is this the second wave?

Well, my face started flaring up again after a long time of really good skin. Now, there are bumpy red patches all over my cheeks and nose. This is strange because usually when my face flares my nose is completely clear...

I wonder if I've hit the famous second wave...And you all know when I'm flaring when my blog posts get more frequent :)

Highs and Lows

Flare is still raging on, but it's entered the flaking stage so I know it'll be over in a couple of days. I've been really thinking about how TSW is such a rollercoaster of emotions. One day, I feel great and happy because my skin is somewhat normal, being able to sleep and go to dance and school without worrying about my red skin. Then, a flare hits and I'm stuck at home, hunched over in a chair itching and rubbing, wondering why this ever happened to me and what I did to deserve it. On days like these I just feel so alone, unproductive, and helpless.

Another thing that has been eating me is the worry. When will my next flare be? What if I have a big social event that day? Will I be in school? Will I have to miss a big dance rehearsal? What if I have to quit another recital, one of my last ones as a senior? It consumes me every day and is impossible to ignore.

This flare is a huge slap in the face for me, telling me that at 8.5 months I still have a long way to go.

Worst flare yet?

Although it is hard to say, I think I've had my worst flare yet today, halfway through month 8. Yesterday night I forced myself down on the bed and tried to sleep, despite my skin oozing profusely. I just kept telling myself to ignore it and sleep. When I woke up this morning my entire neck and chest was COVERED in a thick, hard, yellow crust. I could barely move my head because the crust had solidified my skin into place. I hunched over to the shower and melted it all off with warm water, and now it's just painfully raw and red. My face flared up also, developing some bumpy oozing patches as well.

As much as I didn't want you guys to have to see this, I took some pictures to document the flare:

After washing the crust off:

Swollen, bumpy eyelids:

This flare has really astounded me. It is as if I'm back to square one, just as I was at my worst around month 5/6. I truly believed it couldn't get any worse, but it did today. Maybe this is the famous second flare that everyone talks about? I remember back in the end of month 5 I had a flare just about as bad as this one, and then I started seeing a lot of improvement. I'm praying that the same thing will happen now, and that this huge flare was just the end of another cycle. I truly cannot afford to miss any more school or dance, so I really hope this ends soon.

Flaring again...

Things have not been going too well for me. After the start of school, my skin has taken a turn for the worse. My arms are constantly red and my face has been doing good up to today, when I woke up with swollen, red eyelids and a blotchy mouth. However, I feel like this is a different type of flaring than before. Starting around the end of month 6 was when I noticed this difference. Before, my flares would just be red with hard, crusty skin and burning, and it would affect the entire surface of my skin in one flush. Now, I get bumpy red patches that don't entirely encompass the area in red, but are more like blotches. However, they are more raised patches that are more raw. Today was especially bad, as my chest and back of neck have started to weep. It's such a horrible feeling when your skin is sore and crusty from all the oozing...

Another thing that has been bothering me is that people expect me to heal and just be done with tsw for good. However, we all know that you can be in a break and look perfectly fine, then a day later spiral back into red skin, oozing, and swelling. I think this is by far the worst thing about tsw, seeing flawless skin destroy itself and begin to break down on its own, all while trying to maintain a normal life. I think that I need to accept that I am most definitely NOT normal at the moment, and that I shouldn't be doing all of the things that normal people do. I do have an illness, no matter how you look at it. I will be posting some pictures in the next few days to chart progress of my flare. I hope you are all doing well!

Back to school...eh...

I guess I'm back in school! I actually missed my first day of school because I had food poisoning....but it's gone now. So far I've healed up from my end of the month flare. My arms have gotten sooo smooth, I just can't believe that a week ago they were rough and painful. They aren't completely back to normal yet, still itchy and a bit pink, but I'm seeing progress! My right wrist still looks horrible...I have to wear a wrap bracelet to cover it up. Face is looking good! Chest/neck/shoulders are around the same as my arms--better but still room for improvement. Sleep is pretty much back to normal! Hopefully I don't have huge flares from now on!

Awful day

Sorry that my blog is taking such a downturn from my happy update a few days ago, but today was horrible. I had dance camp from 9 AM to 5 PM (8 hours, now all of you tsw people could tell me that 8 hours ANYWHERE away from home is excruciating while flaring) and the uniform was a tank and shorts. Luckily my legs are completely unaffected, but my entire upper chest, shoulders, and arms are one fiery, burning rash. You could expect how excited I was to wear that tank top. Anyway, I lathered on some BB cream all over my shoulders and arms hoping to cover up, but  the situation was quite miserable. The room that camp was held in was stifling hot, and although the AC was on I did not feel it. During the 4 hours of hard exercise, my arms were sweating heavily, making my rashes sting horribly. On top of that, I broke out into hives, with white raised bumps appearing all over my arms. It felt like someone had poured acid all over them, if I were to describe it. Now, everyone else on the team was uncomfortable and preoccupied with heat and sweating so no one said anything about my arms. Also, I tried to hide it with strategic hand placement and by turning my arms so that only the unaffected areas were visible.

Now, a couple hours later, my arms are still badly inflamed...I might say that this is the worst they've ever looked since I started withdrawal. I've been icing them, but I've ran out of cold ice packs and am waiting for them to refreeze. And camp goes on for another two days....but I can't just call in sick because I paid $300 dollars for this...-__- I'm praying that this hive-like state will go away soon or else I don't know what I'll do...I hope you're all faring better than I am.

I spoke too soon...

Had a great day yesterday, but as soon as I woke up this morning I knew I was flaring. I was nearing my time of the month so I guess I was expecting it. Currently, my chest, neck and shoulders are inflamed and beet red, with little raised bumps that ooze. Just with the slightest scratch my skin oozes fluid. Sigh. My face hasn't really caught up yet and is only flaring a bit around my mouth, but I assume that by tomorrow it'll follow and flare also. My arms are doing ok...still red though. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing this will all end within 4-5 days then go back to normal. Just got to tough it out!

Picture update

Having a very good day today and thought I'd upload some pictures :)

My neck actually felt ok enough to wear my hair down!

Still some random patches of pink here and there.

Arms doing better!

The camera sort of washed out the redness on my wrist but it is getting better also.

Nearing 8 Months...

Wow I can't believe I'm almost at 8 months!! I seriously never thought I'd get here, but the months seem to pass quicker in the later stages of withdrawal. On good days, I'd say I'm about 60-70% healed. I'll list out the good and the not so good:

Good:
- My facial redness is WAY better. The redness has mainly localized to around my eyes and mouth.
- Neck/shoulder/chest/arm redness is better too, but it's still pink. Looks like a sunburn
- I believe all spreading has stopped!
- Getting more sleep! It's kind of a habit now to lie in bed surfing my phone in the wee hours of the morning, but I can at least fall asleep now.
- Very minimal ooze
- Eyebrows are growing back
- I've noticed a bit of sweating? I mean, it's not dripping off me, but sometimes I feel a bit moist, similar to when you're in a humid climate.

Not so good:
- I'm still horribly itchy at random times throughout the day. This is mainly around my neck/chest/arms/shoulders. I get SUPER itchy around the lymph nodes in my neck, which are swollen up constantly.
-Still super dry and flaky. It's especially bad in the morning when I haven't applied moisturizer in hours. I roll out of bed and feel so stiff and hunch over to the bathroom to put on some lotion.
- Big flares still occur around twice a month, not as frequent as before but still horrible. Lately my flares consist of raised, bumpy red patches around my eyes and mouth that resemble an allergic reaction. Also, my eyelids swell and the area behind my ears ooze. It's especially bad around my time of the month.
- Starting to get hives after exercise, which hasn't happened before. Any sweat or heat just throws me into an itching frenzy!

Things are improving, but so so slowly. I'm starting my senior year at school in a couple of weeks (nooo) and I think I'm ok enough to handle it. Hoping to see more improvements soon!

Reflecting

Had a little flare on my face today. It consisted of a little blotchiness around the eyes and mouth that was sort of like hives? Well, within an hour or so it has pretty much died down, and I think it only worsened because I scratched it. Also, it is very flaky and dry around those areas. I'm expecting it to be gone by tomorrow at this rate!

When I was about in my 3rd or 4th month of withdrawal (my memory of this is horrible...probably my brain trying to block out the memories!) I visited the UCLA office of dermatology for an appointment because I live in LA and my dad needed a solid diagnosis of my skin problems, despite what I explained to him about ITSAN and tsw. He was certain that this doctor, a Harvard graduate , could help me. Even I held high hopes because HARVARD, and UCLA is where Dr. Rapaport used to work. However, just like any other dermatologist, she completely denied the existence of any sort of withdrawal from steroids and pressed that steroids were the only method to cure me. Thankfully she was smart enough to not prescribe me Prednisone because of my age. So, I obediently accepted the steroid prescription with a smile, walked out of the office, then promptly ripped it up. What I also ripped up that day was my faith in western dermatology.

Now that I can physically see my body healing, albeit very slowly, I feel like doctors simply cannot get away with this. Although withdrawal doesn't happen to everyone, it will literally destroy you when it does. I just want to thank the founders of ITSAN so much for sticking with this idea even though they were doubted by basically the entire medical community. Brave warriors they truly are!

Month 7!!

So, I am 5 days into month 7 and feeling great! Still very itchy at night, but my affected areas are waaay less red than before. My arms are actually almost white! The problem areas on my face have indeed localized to around my mouth and between the eyes, the only places I actually applied the steroids. Also, my neck is still a bit rough because I applied hydrocortisone there too. But overall, way more good days and way less bad days. I hope this upward trend continues!

And the cycle continues...

Good news, my flare burned out in 4 days! Now, I am just really dry but not red and burning anymore. I'd take dryness over redness any day. Here's a picture of my face 4 days ago:

Though you can't really tell in the picture, the red blotchy areas were slightly raised and bumpy. My nose was the only clear area! Now, here's today's picture, compared to my unaffected hand.

Still a bit pink compared to my hand, but my hand is REALLY pale. Anyway, it is miles better compared to 4 days ago. There's no swelling, no patches, smooth, but just a bit flaky. I hope all of my flares will continue to be this short!

It's that time again...

Yup, it's time for that monthly flare! The one that signals my time of the month, is worse than all others, undoes all progress of the entire month, puts me in a pit of depression, and reminds me that my TSW is far from over. My face was doing so, so well and was almost perfectly clear for 3 blissful weeks. Then, it just exploded into a red, blotchy, raised rash, itchy mess, completely different from all of the flare ups I've had before. It could've been a real allergic reaction, but it's hard to say because now I am oozing from my chest and shoulders again. And, my period is due soon so that could explain it. I'm just praying that the oozing doesn't get worse and the flare won't last long. Sigh. It completely sucks when you see so much progress and you're just getting back into normality when everything just reverses itself.

Hope you're all hanging in there, let's see what happens!

Great...

Kind of indulged and had a hamburger, fries, and a soda. Now, the whole area around my mouth is red and my face is splotchy. Sigh....what a bad idea....

Burning red

My chest and arms are quite dry, red and burning today. Not to mention painful! It feels as if every time I move my arms I can just feel all the rough, dry skin shifting and it stings :( Hopefully this flare dies down in the next couple of days. Sigh. My face is doing well though!

Mini-flare

I believe I'm flaring now, the one that usually comes before my time of the month as usual. I'm finding it to be quite tolerable, just a bit redder and drier than usual. There is a tiny wet patch on my shoulder but my time-of-the-month flares are usually WAY worse. My face is the least affected out of all the areas, no swelling and only a bit pink.

Here, you can kind of see the pink patchy area that stops below my neck and continues to my normal back skin:

Arms:

Right wrist:

The patches on my arms and back of neck/shoulders are slowly merging and spreading to form solid red...D: But, my face is getting better and better and no longer having major flares! That's fine with me, for now, because the other areas can simply be covered up with a long sleeve tee. Hope you're all doing well!

Half way through month 6!

So far, things are going pretty well! My face has gotten WAY better. I think I might be mini-flaring today because my face is a bit pinker than usual, but it is NOTHING compared to a month ago. They really are correct when they say flares get less and less intense! My skin is still super dry and flaky, but my Aveeno usually does the trick. The itch is still crazy at night, and my sleeping schedule is still messed up, but I am just so relieved that my face is getting better. Time to show people that I can actually look normal after 6 months of red skin, swollen face, and crazy triple eyelids. Ugh.

I have noticed that I get the most itchy around certain nerves and veins, such as my inner arms, back of the knees, neck, armpit area. If I'm correct, this is where some major arteries and veins lie. Perhaps it has something to do with cortisol levels? Or maybe the histamine flowing through my blood? I would really love to study this in college in hopes of someday finding more clear answers to our predicament, but I'm daunted by the amount of studying I'd have to do to enter the medical field. Plus, independent research is hard to do. I'm planning to major in some sort of science, so hopefully I can figure out my path from there. I think that enough people have suffered this hard that something HAS to be done. No one on earth should have to go through this....it's really comparable to a devised torture method. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that it would be over in 1-2 years. If healing time would be, say, 5 years, I honestly don't know if I would be able to do it.

I hope you all see progress soon! It is truly the best feeling.

Update

Hey everyone! After my last flare, which lasted around a week or so, my skin has returned to a stable calm period. My face is way less red and swollen, in fact when I wake up in the morning it is white and pale! It gets redder after I wake up as I start to move around, though. My neck, shoulders and chest are still itchy as usual but are less red and have not been oozing. My arms are also getting less red, but they are very dry and flaky. I even went back to ballet class yesterday because I was feeling so much better! I looked like I was a bit sunburned, but nothing more than that :). Insomnia is still an issue for me, falling asleep at around 9 AM and waking up around 2-3 PM. Today was a good day though, as I fell asleep around 3 AM and woke up at 12 PM. Maybe because I had exercise last night and was tired out? Or maybe yesterday I woke myself up at 9 AM and refused to go back to sleep, regulating my schedule a bit? Ah, who knows. Overall, I'm feeling WAY better and am healing bit by bit. I wish I could go back in time around 1-2 months ago when I was at my worst and say, "Hey! This is you in around 1-2 months. You are getting better."

Feeling a bit depressed

Currently still in the middle of a flare and have been feeling down. Last night, I got into bed around 1 AM as I knew that going to bed earlier would just result in me lying awake and scratching like crazy. I tossed and turned the whole night, as usual, and I may have slept a bit but it's all a blur to me now. I finally fell into a true sleep at 9 AM and woke up around 3:30 PM! I didn't really have the will to get up because I was so dry and stiff and my shoulders were damp and cracked with ooze. Before I knew it, it was 5:30 and I finally got up just as my mom was coming home from work. This could be the latest I've ever woken up, and the whole thing just bums me out.

Even though I'm definitely not a morning person, I like having order to my day and eating a set breakfast in the morning. Waking up late just makes me feel so unproductive because I have quite a bit of summer work and college things to worry about. Also, I feel quite down having to stay inside all day because of my appearance. My dance summer school starts next week, but I'm pretty certain my skin just won't be well enough to go. I haven't been to dance class in about 2 months since I quit for the time being in May, and I miss it a lot. Being cooped up inside and having no motivation to do anything really sucks :(.

Tomorrow, I will force myself to be up by at least 12 PM. Wishing you all the best.

Into Month 6!

I am officially entering month 6th today! But bad news is I've also entered another flare. Well, that was a wonderful break! But I guess it's back to work for my skin. Chest and neck started oozing again which is agonizing at night, and eyelids swelling as well. Everything's the usual dry and flaky, and I continue to have to dust flakes off my bed every 10 minutes at night. Getting on average 2-3 hours of sleep at night when I have to wake up early to go some place, but on the usual summer days where I just stay home I fall asleep around 9 AM and sometimes even go till 3 or 4! My arms, although they seem less red than a month ago, have been SUPER itchy each day. Sigh.

I truly hope that by the end of this summer I'll be done with the worst of TSW. Or, at least have milder flares than I do now. In the beginning, I truly thought that I was going to be healed at 6th months because I started out with very mild symptoms, but now I realize that everyone else was right and that it probably isn't going to happen. I know now that in reality it will take me 1-2 years to be completely back to normal, and I'm okay with that. I'm glad that I have finally found a reason for my spreading eczema and won't live the rest of my life trapped by topical steroids. And, I had a taste of beautiful, white skin on my face last week so I know that it will return to that eventually! Let's keep on trucking, everyone!

Improvements

I'm approaching month 6 and my face actually looks pretty normal. There is still slight redness and flaking in some parts but overall I see a lot of white and baby smooth skin! Plus, no swollen eyelids, and I think my eyebrows are slowly growing back. I'm actually starting to look like myself again, ha. I don't know if this is simply a quiet period or if my face is finally returning to normal (I pray that it's the latter). My face has been feeling normal for about 5 days now, so I really hope it'll stay like this! Senior portrait coming up in a week....

My collarbone/chest area has been the worst at the moment. It's constantly itching, especially at night which gives me zero sleep until around 8 AM. It's like a bone-deep itch that tingles if I don't itch yet gets itchier the more I scratch it...I'm sure we've all experienced it.  It's gotten less red though, and hopefully this intense itch is a healing itch.

My left arm is slowly normalizing, but it's weird because the previously red patches have turned a light pink color which is lighter than my actual skin tone...I guess it's better than red though!

Right arm is still pretty bad, very dry with a lot of scabs. However, I used to get a lot of pimples on this arm which have went away.

Overall, I think I have made progress. The itch continues to be horrible, but my skin is smoothing out. Hope all of you see progress soon, it gives me hope that I will heal.

Shedding

I've been shedding A LOT today. Perhaps that's a good sign, as I think I'm ending a flare. My neck, chest, and arms look a lot less red today! My neck, for the first time since I started TSW, feels smooth and completely rid of cuts and lesions. I'm praying that some day my face and chest will be this smooth. I find it very hard to be optimistic during this, but little moments like these give me hope. Hope you're all doing well!

Flare

I'm feeling very flare-y today. I'm not even sure if this is a flare because I've had the same symptoms for around 2 consecutive weeks already, but today my skin feels hotter and redder.. Usually, my flares last only a week and start dying down. Yesterday was weird because my eyelids randomly started swelling up in the middle of the day. I'm thinking it could have been the chocolate I ate earlier, or perhaps I had too much salt. Throughout withdrawal I haven't really been careful with my diet (I mean, I AM a highschooler) but now I will start controlling my sugar intake and watching out for that salt also.

Progress Pictures So Far!

Month 1: I had very mild symptoms in month 1, just redness/rash between my eyebrows and around my mouth. These were the most recent areas that I had applied the steroids before quitting.

Month 2: The rashes began to spread out. One formed on my neck, which is also an area where I had applied a bit of steroid. I also began feeling the intense itch in my neck and disrupted sleep. The corners of my lips would crack and ooze, leaving a crust in the morning. (I think these pictures make it look less red because of the bright lighting : /)

Month 3: Again, more spreading, itching, and OOZING! My neck began to ooze profusely throughout the night, making sleep impossible for a while.

Month 4: Mouth area seems to stop cracking and oozing, but my face and neck have gone completely red and burning. My arms begin to show splotchy rashes and my ears begin to flake and ooze.

 Huge improvement:

 Flare when my cheeks began to crack and ooze:

Neck and chest:

Today, month 5: Face is getting....slightly better? Nothing too dramatic but sometimes my face is lighter than my neck and chest. It still burns constantly, though. Another plus, my neck has stopped oozing for now! However, my arms are starting to worsen and I'm afraid I'll have the red sleeve soon. My chest/shoulder area has been in a cycle of crack, ooze, flake, repeat.

Shoulder/Collarbone area:

Good news is, I end school for the summer in 3 days! No more crawling out of bed at 6:30 AM! Here's to a summer of relaxation and healing.