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Sunday, November 2, 2014

Had Dealt With Chickenpox Without Spending Much

Haven't had the pox 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.
sarahwoodbury.com



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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