Skincare & Disability in Changing Seasons
The cold weather has firmly arrived, and it has brought some pretty hairy changes along with it this year, given the speed of the weather change and how brutal the cold already is.
I get skin and growth issues as part of my disability; I have had procedures (five so far) to remove lumps from my face, my abdomen and my left breast. All my lumps have been benign but fast growing, some have been removed urgently as a result. I still have fibroids, but as I age my clinical team are hoping to avoid more surgery and rely on other controls.
On a regular basis, I develop painful lumps, cysts, eczema, itchy skin, and dermatitis patches. I also have mild rosacea and a light malar rash caused by my autoimmune disorders. I am sure other people may also experience some or all of these problems. This also means the temperate British weather, and central heating, has an effect on my skincare regime.
I have already talked about my summer skincare, and the point of today’s blog is to acknowledge that my whole regime fell apart spectacularly around 10 days ago, possibly due to a combination of the drop in temperature, increase in cold moisture in the air, and the rise of central heating. This is the part that I think will impact many others in similar situations.
Very suddenly, my normal, regular skincare made me spectacularly break out, with inflamed patches, sores and irritation to boot. I stopped all skincare applications, and dropped back to my preferred choices for disability flare ups; CeraVe Moisturising Cleanser and CeraVe Moisturising Cream for Dry to Very Dry Skin.
Despite this, I am experiencing sores in delicate areas such as scalp and temples, eczema from my scalp to the back of my neck and sores behind my ears, and itchy skin and hive break outs. There is a constant sense of movement and irritation on areas of my skin, like crawling insects. This is not due to the CeraVe. It is part of many autoimmune disorders experienced by people the world over.
The result of easing back on skincare is the skin on my face becoming reddened, dry and tight. The skin on my hands is sore, dry and tight. My lips are sore. The skin on my calves and upper arms is irritated and keeps rising up in hives, despite prescription medication for asthma and allergies. My asthma, closely linked to skin issues, also keeps flaring up, which suggests either more or different allergens in the air. My lips are so sore that I will have to reintroduce my Laneige lip balm to try and calm the irritation back down.
What about everyone else? Does your skincare regime suffer? What do you exchange seasonally? Do you find this issue is highlighted by disability? Do you have any go-to products to ease the problem, and if so, what are they? Let me know, please!
