Turning Red

November 20, 2017



I am slightly overcooked.

I think we overdid it at the last light treatment. I was told just before the last session that we were going to ramp things up dramatically from here on. I was fine with this. 

Every light treatment I get asked how I was after the previous session. For a fair while now I have had no ill effects of light treatment. A couple of times I have felt a little tender in certain spots and passed this on to either the Dermatologist, but most commonly the practice nurse. Nothing for a while so now time to ramp it up. 

For the final 30 seconds of the last light treatment, I felt something different. It felt like I was surrounded by a blanket of energy. Like a foot wide barrier around my body, heating me up and moving slowly around me. It was a weird sensation. Nothing there of course. I stand in the light treatments with my eyes closed and this tends to make everything else feel heightened. 

As soon as the cabinet lights went off the area went darker and cooled. Immediately I felt no different than normal but could remember that sensation.

Gradually though out the day, my skin felt like it became drier. I rubbed my face a lot more, which is a part habit and partly because I felt drier and scratchy than it had for a while. I lathered up on the moisturisers and repeatedly applied them. This made stopped the skin feeling drier, but it still felt tender. Like a million tiny, imperceptible cracks or like someone had given my face a light buffing with sandpaper. It was red and a little tender. 

When I looked in the mirror a couple of hours after the treatment, you could definitely see the pattern. I was developing goggle marks from the light treatments. Little teaspoon sized white ovals around my eyes and a noticeable white strip across the top of my nose plus a line from my eyes to my ears. I looked like an inverted racoon. Unfortunately, the photo above doesn't capture it very well.

Millie laughed at me when she got home from work and commented that I was a little overdone. Even commenting that my arms and torso were a bit red as well. I am colourblind, so seeing red or pinkish skin doesn’t happen for me unless it is really obvious.

Later in the day, I started to feel the cold more and more. It was a lovely day but I wore a hoodie for most of it. This now started to feel a lot more like sunburn. I kept up with the moisturiser. Even Millie reminding me in bed to moisturise up again because I was a bit scratchy going to sleep. I demittened (if there is such a word) and put on a thick layer of moisturiser. First, a lighter moisturiser to soak in then a heavier, greasy barrier cream to help keep it protected. I am glad I did because the following day was a little better. The anger in my skin had gone down and it was certainly less tender. Still feeling the cold though on another lovely day, I hoodied up again. 

To help I have also been drinking a lot of water to hydrate from the inside out as well. I have also been knocking back the smoothies to keep the antioxidants, nutrients and omega fatty oils coming.

In general, I believe the light treatment is doing great things and my skin feels a lot more settled. The time between the familiar tickle of a flare-up is getting much further apart. I will mention the latest burn feeling at the next session and see where we go from there.